Empirical Formula of Sulfur & Oxygen Compound

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on determining the empirical formula of a compound formed from sulfur and oxygen. A sample of sulfur weighing 1.28 g combines with 1.92 g of oxygen, leading to a total mass of 3.2 g for the compound. The calculations show that sulfur converts to 0.04 mol and oxygen to 0.24 mol, suggesting a formula of SO3. Participants clarify that in a compound, oxygen is not diatomic and should be considered as a single atom (O) rather than O2. The consensus is that the empirical formula is SO3, as SO6 is not a valid compound.
asadpasat
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Please post this type of questions in HW section using the template.
A sample of sulfur having a mass of 1.28 g combines with oxygen to form a compound with a mass of 3.2g. What is the empirical formula.
So what i did is found the mass of oxygen which is 1.92g . Then converted the 1.28g S to 0.04 mol. Then converted the 1.92g O2 (as it says oxygen, or should it be just O?) to get 0.24mol O. I found online that the answer should be SO3, but I get SO6 because of Oxygen. Should I not assume it is diatomic, and just go with as just element?
 
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asadpasat said:
A sample of sulfur having a mass of 1.28 g combines with oxygen to form a compound with a mass of 3.2g. What is the empirical formula.
So what i did is found the mass of oxygen which is 1.92g . Then converted the 1.28g S to 0.04 mol. Then converted the 1.92g O2 (as it says oxygen, or should it be just O?) to get 0.24mol O. I found online that the answer should be SO3, but I get SO6 because of Oxygen. Should I not assume it is diatomic, and just go with as just element?
When the oxygen is combined with another element in a compound, it is no longer in diatomic form. Plus, there's no such compound as SO6, AFAIK, unless the valence of S is 12 instead of 2.
 
SteamKing said:
When the oxygen is combined with another element in a compound, it is no longer in diatomic form. Plus, there's no such compound as SO6, AFAIK, unless the valence of S is 12 instead of 2.
So when it says that oxygen is combining it should be just O, not O2. If i understood correctly.
 
Yes a single oxygen atom has combined with some other element(s).
It may or may not have originally been an atom which was existing previously as part of diatomic oxygen.
 
Thread 'Confusion regarding a chemical kinetics problem'

Thread 'Confusion regarding a chemical kinetics problem'

TL;DR Summary: cannot find out error in solution proposed. [![question with rate laws][1]][1] Now the rate law for the reaction (i.e reaction rate) can be written as: $$ R= k[N_2O_5] $$ my main question is, WHAT is this reaction equal to? what I mean here is, whether $$k[N_2O_5]= -d[N_2O_5]/dt$$ or is it $$k[N_2O_5]= -1/2 \frac{d}{dt} [N_2O_5] $$ ? The latter seems to be more apt, as the reaction rate must be -1/2 (disappearance rate of N2O5), which adheres to the stoichiometry of the...
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