Question

What is the percentage of sulfur in sulfuric acid?
A. 32.65
B. 32
C. 16.32
D. 49.96

Answer 1

It is generally a mineral acid that composed of hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur and represented by the molecular formula ${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}$. It is a colorless, odorless and viscous liquid that is soluble in water and synthesized in reactions that are highly exothermic in nature.

Complete Solution :
${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}$is one of the strongest acids. It is hygroscopic in nature, the term hygroscopic refers to the absorption of water vapors from air. To calculate the percentage of sulfur in sulfuric acid firstly we have to calculate the relative formula mass of sulfuric acid. The relative formula mass can be defined as a substance which is generally made up of molecules is given by the sum of the relative atomic masses of the atoms present in the molecule.

- Relative molecular formula of ${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}$ can be calculated by:
${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}=2\times H+S+4\times O$
Put the atomic masses of $H,S\ \text{and O}$ in the formula
${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}=2\times 1+32+4\times 16=98$

Hence the relative mass of ${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}$ is 98. So calculate the percentage of sulfur we can use the formula:
$\dfrac{Mass\ \text{of}\ \text{sulfur}}{\operatorname{Re}lative\ \text{molecular}\ \text{mass}}\times 100$
Mass of sulfur = 32
Relative molecular mass of ${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}$ is calculated as 98. Put the value in the formula
$\dfrac{32}{98}\times 100=32.65$
So, the correct answer is “Option A”.

Note: Sulfuric can be produced easily by many methods like contact process, wet sulfuric acid and lead chamber process and it has many industrial uses like ${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}$ is important in mineral processing, oil refining, waste water processing and in chemical synthesis.