Question
Question: What is the empirical formula of \({{C}_{2}}{{H}_{2}}\)and\({{C}_{6}}{{H}_{6}}\)?...
What is the empirical formula of C2H2andC6H6?
Solution
The empirical formula can also be known by the name simplest formula and can be defined as the simplest formula of a compound which is defined as the ratio of subscripts of the smallest possible whole number of the elements present in the formula.
Complete answer:
We can also define it in a way that an empirical formula for a compound is the formula of a substance written with the smallest integer subscript and this formula gives information about the ratio of numbers of atoms present in the compound. The percent composition of a compound directly leads to its empirical formula.
Now to find out the empirical formula of C2H2 we first have to know about ratio of carbon and hydrogen present in it so in this case ratio of carbon to hydrogen is same i.e. it has 2:2 which would also be written as 1:1.
Another formula given is C6H6 in this compound the ratio of hydrogen and carbon is also same i.e. 6:6 and this can also be written as 1:1.
Hence, the empirical formula represents the simplest whole number ratio of various atoms in a compound hence for both C2H2 and C6H6 the empirical formula is CH.
Note:
Empirical formula is the simplest formula which tells us about the lowest whole number ratio of atoms present in a compound. We know that the relative number of atoms of every element in the compound is provided by their empirical formula.