Xylose, a sugar isolated from wood, has the empirical formula CH2O. If a 6.25 mole sample

of xylose has a mass of 938.3 g, what is xylose's molecular formula?

mols = grams/molar mass

Solve for molar mass.

Then empirical mass is
C = 12
H = 2
O = 16
-------
30
molar mass = empirical mass*x
Solve for x and substitute into
(CH2O)x or you can write it as CxH2xOx

mason

To determine the molecular formula of xylose, we need to find the ratio between the empirical formula and the molecular formula.

First, we need to calculate the molar mass of the empirical formula (CH2O):
- The atomic mass of carbon (C) is 12.01 g/mol
- The atomic mass of hydrogen (H) is 1.01 g/mol
- The atomic mass of oxygen (O) is 16.00 g/mol

Molar mass of empirical formula (CH2O):
= (12.01 g/mol × 1) + (1.01 g/mol × 2) + (16.00 g/mol × 1)
= 12.01 g/mol + 2.02 g/mol + 16.00 g/mol
= 30.03 g/mol

Next, we need to calculate the molar mass of xylose:
- The mass of 6.25 moles of xylose is given as 938.3 g.

Molar mass of xylose:
= 938.3 g / 6.25 mol
= 150.13 g/mol

Finally, we can find the ratio between the molar mass of xylose and the molar mass of the empirical formula:
= Molar mass of xylose / Molar mass of empirical formula
= 150.13 g/mol / 30.03 g/mol
= 5

The ratio is 5, which means the molecular formula of xylose is five times the empirical formula.

Therefore, the molecular formula of xylose is:

5 × CH2O = C5H10O5