Fluorite, a mineral of calcium, is a compound of the metal with fluorine. Analysis shows that a 18.66 g sample of fuorite contains 9.590 g of calcium. How do you calculate the mass of fluorine in the sample?

1 Answer
Sep 10, 2016

Subtract the mass of calcium from the total mass. The result is the mass of fluorine in the sample.

Explanation:

Since fluorite #("CaF"_2)"# contains calcium and fluorine, the mass of fluorine can be determined by subtracting the known mass of calcium from the known mass of the fluorite crystal.

#"mass of fluorine"##=##"18.66 g"-"9.590 g"="9.07 g"#