Complete combustion of 4.20 g of a hydrocarbon produced 13.4 g of CO2 and 4.81 g of H2O. What is the empirical formula for the hydrocarbon?

There is a complete combustion of the hydrocarbon.

13.4 g CO2 is produced

The number of moles of carbon is

13.4 g CO2 (1 mol CO2 / 44 g CO2) (1 mol C/1 mol CO2) = 0.3045 mol C

4.81 g of H2O is produced

The number of moles of H is

4.81 g H2O (1 mol H2O/18 g H2O) (2 mol H/1 mol H2O) = 0.2672 mol H

Dividing greater number by the smaller number

0.3045 / 0.2672 = 1.14

The empirical formula is

CH