How can empirical and molecular formulas be the same?

1 Answer
anor277
May 2, 2016

The molecular formula is always a multiple of the empirical formula.

Explanation:

From the above, #"Molecular formula"=("Empirical formula")xxn#.

Of course, the multiple, #n#, may be ONE. Non-molecular compounds, typically ionic compounds, have common empirical and molecular formulae (of course ionic species are non-molecular).

There are even some molecular species whose empirical formulae would be the same as the molecular formulae. The ones I can think off hand are #CH_4#, #NO#, #NO_2#, #N_2O#, #N_2O_5#, #CO_2#, #CO#, and #H_2O#. There are possibly lots of other examples.

Related questions
See all questions in Empirical and Molecular Formulas
Impact of this question
1694 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License