What is the empirical formula for the compound #C_6H_12O_6#?

1 Answer
May 19, 2017

#CH_2O#

Explanation:

The empirical formula is a chemical formula written in the simplest form by reducing the subscripts to the smallest possible whole integer. In essence, we just have to find a the smallest common term of each subscript and simplify:

If we look at #C_6H_12O_6# we can see that all subscripts are divisible by #6# so we divide each subscript by #6#. The end result is the empirical formula:

#CH_2O# - Empirical formula

#C_6H_12O_6# - Molecular formula