A hydrocarbon compound contains 92.3% carbon Determine its empirical formula [H = 1.00; C = 12.0]

To determine the empirical formula of a hydrocarbon compound, we need to know the percentage composition of each element in the compound. In this case, we are given that the compound contains 92.3% carbon, which means that the remaining percentage (100 - 92.3 = 7.7%) must be hydrogen. To calculate the empirical formula, we need to convert the percentages to mole ratios. Assuming a 100 g sample of the compound, we have 92.3 g of carbon and 7.7 g of hydrogen. The next step is to convert the masses of each element to moles. We use the molar masses of carbon and hydrogen (12.0 g/mol and 1.00 g/mol, respectively) to calculate the number of moles of each element: - Moles of carbon = 92.3 g / 12.0 g/mol = 7.69 mol - Moles of hydrogen = 7.7 g / 1.00 g/mol = 7.7 mol To get the simplest whole-number ratio of carbon to hydrogen, we divide each number of moles by the smallest number of moles (7.69 mol in this case): - Carbon: 7.69 mol / 7.69 mol = 1.00 - Hydrogen: 7.7 mol / 7.69 mol = 1.00 Therefore, the empirical formula of the hydrocarbon compound is CH, which corresponds to.