What is the empirical formula of a compound that has a carbon-to-hydrogen ratio of 2 to 6?
Is it CH3?
It would be C2H6
because you take the ratio and just use them as subscripts for its corresponding element. So if carbon came out to 2 and hydrogen came out to 6, then it would simply be C2H6.
but can't you simplify that to CH3
Yes, no, yes.
The EMPIRICAL formula for a compound with the ratio of C2H6 is CH3. The empirical formula is the simplest formula that can be derived. The C2H6 COULD BE (but it isn't necessarily so) the molecular formula.
To determine the empirical formula of a compound, we need to find the simplest and most reduced ratio of the elements present in the compound.
In this case, we are given a carbon-to-hydrogen ratio of 2 to 6.
To find the simplest ratio, we can divide both numbers by their greatest common divisor (GCD), which is 2 in this case.
Dividing 2 by 2 gives us 1, and dividing 6 by 2 gives us 3.
Therefore, the simplest ratio of carbon to hydrogen is 1 to 3.
Based on this ratio, the empirical formula of the compound is CH3.
So, yes, you are correct in suggesting that the empirical formula of the compound with the given carbon-to-hydrogen ratio is CH3.