Hi, I posted a question yesterday :

A compound contains only carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. Combustion of 0.157 of the compound produced 0.213g CO2 and 0.0310 g H20. In another experiment, it is found that 0.103g of the compound produces 0.0230 g NH3. What is the empirical formula of the compound?

Chemistry - DrBob222, Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 9:24pm
I would convert 0.213g CO2 to g C, then to %C. Convert 0.0310 g H2O to grams H, then top %H. Add g H to g C and subtract from 0.157 to obtain g O, and convert to %O. Then for the separate run on N, convert g NH3 to g N and to %N.
Take a 100 g sample and that will provide you with those percentages C, H, N, O. (For example, 60% C will become 60.0 g C).
...

I have a question about converting CO2 to C.

This is what I tried...
% of C in CO2
12.01/44.01 x 100 = 27.1%

then, 0.213 g of CO2 x 27.1 % of C
=0.058149
Am I doing this correctly?

Yes, that's correct. And you will need that answer to obtain grams oxygen in the compound. You will need to convert that g C to percent C, also. To do that, simply (g carbon/0.157)*100 = ??

Yes, you are on the right track. To convert the mass of CO2 to grams of C, you first need to calculate the percentage of C in CO2. The molar mass of carbon (C) is 12.01 g/mol, and the molar mass of CO2 is 44.01 g/mol (12.01 g/mol for C and 32.00 g/mol for O).

So, % of C in CO2 = (12.01 g/mol / 44.01 g/mol) x 100 = 27.28%.

Now, to find the mass of C in 0.213 g of CO2, you multiply 0.213 g by the percentage of C:

0.213 g CO2 x 27.28% C = 0.05814 g C.

Therefore, you have correctly converted the mass of CO2 to grams of C.

Yes, you are on the right track with your calculations. To convert the percentage of carbon in CO2 to grams of carbon, you need to multiply the percentage by the mass of CO2.

The molar mass of CO2 is 44.01 g/mol, and the molar mass of carbon is 12.01 g/mol. So, to calculate the mass of carbon in 0.213 g of CO2, you would use the following equation:

0.213 g CO2 x (12.01 g C / 44.01 g CO2) = 0.058 g C

Therefore, you have correctly calculated that there are approximately 0.058 g of carbon in 0.213 g of CO2.