- #1
PhiPhenomenon
- 19
- 0
Hey all,
This is actually my first post on this forum but I have been reading it for a few months now.
Anyway, I'm sure the title of this thread might be confusing but this question has been bugging me for years now and I'm sure I'm missing something quite elementary. My question has to do with how exactly do people find the atomic makeup of an unknown substance and actually know enough to talk about it's bond structure.
For instance, I'm just imagining we have a bucket of ethenol (C2H4O1). I don't know what it is exactly and for all I know it could be just ethanol (C2H6O1) with a single sigma bond between the two carbons. How would I figure this out? For that matter, how do people know for certain that it is made up of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen?
This is actually my first post on this forum but I have been reading it for a few months now.
Anyway, I'm sure the title of this thread might be confusing but this question has been bugging me for years now and I'm sure I'm missing something quite elementary. My question has to do with how exactly do people find the atomic makeup of an unknown substance and actually know enough to talk about it's bond structure.
For instance, I'm just imagining we have a bucket of ethenol (C2H4O1). I don't know what it is exactly and for all I know it could be just ethanol (C2H6O1) with a single sigma bond between the two carbons. How would I figure this out? For that matter, how do people know for certain that it is made up of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen?