{"id":28885,"date":"2025-06-20T17:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T17:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=28885"},"modified":"2025-06-20T17:04:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T17:04:15","slug":"chemical-analysis-shows-that-citric-acid-contains-37-51-c-4-20-h-and-58-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/chemical-analysis-shows-that-citric-acid-contains-37-51-c-4-20-h-and-58-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemical analysis shows that citric acid contains 37.51% C, 4.20% H, and 58.29%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Chemical analysis shows that citric acid contains 37.51% C, 4.20% H, and 58.29% . What is the empirical formula for citric acid?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\"><strong>The correct answer and explanation is:<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To find the <strong>empirical formula<\/strong> of citric acid, begin by converting the <strong>percent composition<\/strong> into <strong>moles<\/strong> of each element. Assume a 100 g sample of citric acid. This simplifies the percentages into grams:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Carbon (C): 37.51 g<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hydrogen (H): 4.20 g<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oxygen (O): 58.29 g<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, convert each mass into moles using the molar mass of each element:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Carbon: 37.51 g \u00f7 12.01 g\/mol \u2248 <strong>3.125 mol<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hydrogen: 4.20 g \u00f7 1.008 g\/mol \u2248 <strong>4.167 mol<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oxygen: 58.29 g \u00f7 16.00 g\/mol \u2248 <strong>3.643 mol<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, divide each mole value by the smallest number of moles to determine the simplest whole-number ratio:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>C: 3.125 \u00f7 3.125 = <strong>1.000<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>H: 4.167 \u00f7 3.125 \u2248 <strong>1.333<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>O: 3.643 \u00f7 3.125 \u2248 <strong>1.166<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These are not whole numbers. Multiply each ratio by a common factor to make them whole numbers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Multiply all by <strong>3<\/strong>:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>C: 1.000 \u00d7 3 = <strong>3<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>H: 1.333 \u00d7 3 = <strong>4<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>O: 1.166 \u00d7 3 = <strong>3.5<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Oxygen is still not whole. Multiply everything again by <strong>2<\/strong> to eliminate the fraction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>C: 3 \u00d7 2 = <strong>6<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>H: 4 \u00d7 2 = <strong>8<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>O: 3.5 \u00d7 2 = <strong>7<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the <strong>empirical formula<\/strong> of citric acid is <strong>C\u2086H\u2088O\u2087<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The empirical formula represents the simplest whole-number ratio of atoms in a compound. In this case, the ratio 6:8:7 is already in its simplest form. This empirical formula also happens to be the <strong>molecular formula<\/strong> of citric acid, which is a naturally occurring weak organic acid found in citrus fruits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chemical analysis shows that citric acid contains 37.51% C, 4.20% H, and 58.29% . What is the empirical formula for citric acid? The correct answer and explanation is: To find the empirical formula of citric acid, begin by converting the percent composition into moles of each element. Assume a 100 g sample of citric acid. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28886,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28885\/revisions\/28886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}