Maleic acid is an organic compound composed of 41.39% C, 3.47% H, and the rest oxygen. If 0.271 mol of maleic acid has a mass of 31.4 g, what are the empirical and molecular formulas of maleic acid?

My work:
C: 41.39 g x (1 mol/12.01 g) = 3.44629 = 1
H: 3.47 g x (1 mol/1.008 g) = 3.44246 = 1
O: 55.14 x (1 mol/16 g) = 3. 44625 = 1

For empirical I need to divide the smallest mol so they would all equal to 1
Emp formula : COH? CHO?

For the Molecular formula I know I’m supposed to divide the molar mass by the empirical formula’s mass. I need help finding the molar mass. Or is it just 31.4 g?

I suspect you posted only part of the problem. What you have posted for the empirical formula is correct. However, you have no information upon which to determine the molar mass. You need another set of data (such as freezing point depression, mass spectrometry, or such). I suggest, too, if you need additional help is that you start a new post with the above information included. I'm working on page 3 now and many of us just keep up after page 1.

To determine the empirical formula of maleic acid, you correctly calculated the number of moles for each element. However, your values for the number of moles are slightly off due to rounding errors. Let's recalculate them accurately:

C: 41.39 g x (1 mol/12.01 g) = 3.44796 ≈ 3.45 ≈ 3
H: 3.47 g x (1 mol/1.008 g) = 3.44246 ≈ 3.44 ≈ 3
O: (100 - 41.39 - 3.47) = 55.14 g x (1 mol/16 g) = 3.44625 ≈ 3.45 ≈ 3

So, the empirical formula of maleic acid is C3H3O3.

To find the molecular formula, you need to determine the molar mass of the empirical formula. The molar mass of each element is as follows:

C: 12.01 g/mol
H: 1.008 g/mol
O:16.00 g/mol

Let's calculate the molar mass of the empirical formula:

C3H3O3: (3 x 12.01 g/mol) + (3 x 1.008 g/mol) + (3 x 16.00 g/mol) = 36.03 g/mol + 3.024 g/mol + 48.00 g/mol = 87.054 g/mol.

The molar mass of the empirical formula is 87.054 g/mol.

Now, divide the molar mass provided in the question (31.4 g) by the molar mass of the empirical formula (87.054 g/mol) to determine the molecular formula's multiple:

31.4 g / 87.054 g/mol ≈ 0.361.

Since the result is approximately 0.361, round it to the nearest whole number, which is 0. Therefore, the molecular formula of maleic acid is the same as the empirical formula, C3H3O3.

The empirical and molecular formulas of maleic acid are both C3H3O3.

To solve this problem, you are on the right track with finding the empirical formula by dividing the number of moles of each element by the smallest number of moles.

First, let's calculate the number of moles of each element:
C: 0.271 mol
H: 0.271 mol
O: To find the number of moles of oxygen, we need to subtract the sum of moles of carbon and hydrogen from the total moles:
O = 0.271 mol - (0.271 mol + 0.271 mol) = -0.271 mol

It seems like there is an error in your calculations for the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen moles. Here's the correct calculation:

C: 41.39% of 0.271 mol = 0.1124 mol
H: 3.47% of 0.271 mol = 0.0094 mol
O: The remaining percentage, which is 100% - (41.39% + 3.47%) = 55.14%, corresponds to oxygen.
O = 55.14% of 0.271 mol = 0.1496 mol

Now, let's divide these mole values by the smallest number of moles to get the empirical formula:

C: 0.1124 mol / 0.0094 mol ≈ 12
H: 0.0094 mol / 0.0094 mol = 1
O: 0.1496 mol / 0.0094 mol ≈ 16

So, the empirical formula of maleic acid is C12H1O16.

To determine the molecular formula, you need to find the molar mass of the empirical formula. The molar mass of carbon (C) is approximately 12 g/mol, hydrogen (H) is approximately 1 g/mol, and oxygen (O) is approximately 16 g/mol.

For the empirical formula C12H1O16:
Molar mass = (12 * 12 g/mol) + (1 * 1 g/mol) + (16 * 16 g/mol)
= 144 g/mol + 1 g/mol + 256 g/mol
= 401 g/mol

Now, divide the molar mass of the compound given (31.4 g) by the empirical formula's molar mass (401 g/mol):

31.4 g / 401 g/mol ≈ 0.0782 mol

The molecular formula is obtained by multiplying the subscripts of the empirical formula by this ratio:

C: 12 * 0.0782 ≈ 0.938
H: 1 * 0.0782 ≈ 0.0782
O: 16 * 0.0782 ≈ 1.251

Therefore, the molecular formula of maleic acid is approximately C0.938H0.0782O1.251. To simplify it, you can round up the subscripts to the nearest whole number:

C: 1
H: 0
O: 1

So, the molecular formula of maleic acid is CO.