Gallium oxide, Ga.Oy, forms when gallium is combined with oxygen. A 1.25 g of Ga is allowed to react with excess oxygen and 1.68 g of the gallium oxide formed. What is the chemical formula of the gallium oxide if the molar mass is 187.44 g/mol?

Respuesta :

Answer : The chemical formula of a compound is, [tex]Ga_2O_3[/tex]

Solution :  Given,

Mass of gallium = 1.25 g

Mass of gallium oxide = 1.68 g

Mass of oxygen = Mass of gallium oxide - Mass of gallium

Mass of oxygen = 1.68 - 1.25 = 0.43 g

Molar mass of Ga = 69.72 g/mole

Molar mass of O = 16 g/mole

Step 1 : convert given masses into moles.

Moles of Ga = [tex]\frac{\text{ given mass of Ga}}{\text{ molar mass of Ga}}= \frac{1.25g}{69.72g/mole}=0.0179moles[/tex]

Moles of O = [tex]\frac{\text{ given mass of O}}{\text{ molar mass of O}}= \frac{0.43g}{16g/mole}=0.027moles[/tex]

Step 2 : For the mole ratio, divide each value of moles by the smallest number of moles calculated.

For Ga = [tex]\frac{0.0179}{0.0179}=1[/tex]

For O = [tex]\frac{0.027}{0.0179}=1.5[/tex]

The ratio of Ga : O = 1 : 1.5

To make in whole number we multiple ratio by 2, we get:

The ratio of Ga : O = 2 : 3

The mole ratio of the element is represented by subscripts in empirical formula.

The Empirical formula = [tex]Ga_2O_3[/tex]

The empirical formula weight = 2(69.72) + 3(16) = 187.44 gram/eq

Now we have to calculate the molecular formula of the compound.

Formula used :

[tex]n=\frac{\text{Molecular formula}}{\text{Empirical formula weight}}[/tex]

[tex]n=\frac{187.44}{187.44}=1[/tex]

Molecular formula = [tex](Ga_2O_3)_n=(Ga_2O_3)_1=Ga_2O_3[/tex]

Therefore, the chemical of the compound is, [tex]Ga_2O_3[/tex]