What is the difference between emperical formula and molecular formula?

1 Answer
1s2s2p
Feb 5, 2018

Molecular formula gives the number of atoms for each element in the compound, for example #"H"_2"O"_2# or #"C"_2"H"_5"OH"#.

However, the empirical formula gives the simplified molecular formula, for example, the empirical formula for #"H"_2"O"_2# is #"HO"#. The empirical formula may not sound useful, but can be used to find the molecular formula.

For example, #"HO"# has a molar mass of #17g# #mol^(-1)#

But a compound containing hydrogen and oxygen has a molar mass of #34g# #mol^(-1)#

#34/17=2#

By multiplying the number of atoms in the compound:
#"HO" * 2 = "H"_2"O"_2#

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