Styrene, the building block of polystyrene, is a hydrocarbon, a compound consisting only of C and H. If 0.438 g of styrene is burned in oxygen and produces 1.481 g of CO2 and 0.303 g of H2O, what is the empirical formula of styrene?

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Chemistry

Lexie Villarreal

21 October, 11:12

Styrene, the building block of polystyrene, is a hydrocarbon, a compound consisting only of C and H. If 0.438 g of styrene is burned in oxygen and produces 1.481 g of CO2 and 0.303 g of H2O, what is the empirical formula of styrene?

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Luz Underwood · Answer 1

The balanced reaction that describes the reaction between styrene and oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water is expressed C8H8 (g) + 10O2 (g) →8CO2 + 4H2O. When we convert 1.481 g of CO2 to grams styrene, the equivalent is 0.438 grams styrene. Same goes with 0.303 grams of H2O. Since this is equal to the burned mass above, the empirical formula is C8H8.