LESSON PLAN IN SCIENCE (CHEMISTRY)

I. OBJECTIVES

1. Determine the Formula Mass of a compound.

2. Enumerate the steps in determining the empirical formula of a
compound.

I. SUBJECT MATTER

A. TOPIC

Empirical Formula

B. REFERENCES

Brown et. al., Chemistry: The Central Science 8th edition, Empirical
Formulas, pp 83 -84 and pp 98.

Santos et. al., E-Chemistry Textbook, Empirical Formulas, pp 240 –

241

I. LEARNING TASKS

A. RECALL

Percentage Composition of a Compound

Formula Mass/ Molecular mass

B. MOTIVATION

Implied.

C. LESSON PROPER
 Teachers’ Activity Students’ Activity

In chemistry we often want to be very

specific about a certain chemical. We use
chemical formulas to represent each
compound. The formula used to represent
the smallest whole number ratio of atoms in
a compound is called the empirical formula.
The empirical formula:
• Tells us the general makeup of the
compound.
• It tells us the relative number of
atoms of each element it contains.

For example:

H2O contains 2 atoms of H for each 1 atom

of O. At the molar level; 1 mole of H2O
contains 2 moles of H atoms and 1 mole of
Sir, how is mole ratio
O atoms.
related in determining the
empirical formula of a
compound?

The ratio of the number of moles of each

element is a compound gives the subscript
in a compounds empirical formula.

Let’s work on this example.

Mercury forms a compound with chlorine
that is 73.9 percent Mercury and 26.1
percent of Chlorine by mass. Determine the
empirical formula of the compound.

Step 1. Divide each of these mass by the

appropriate atomic weight to obtain the
number of moles of each element. Assume
100g of mass.

73.9 g Hg 1 mole Hg_______________200.6 g

Hg = 0.368 mole Hg

26.1 g Cl 1 mole Cl____________35.5 g Cl

= 0.735 mole Cl

Step 2. We then divide the larger number of

moles by the smaller number of mole to
obtain a ratio.

0.368 mole Hg = 1.0 mole Hg

0.368 Sir, the procedure also

summarized as:
“percent to mass,
mass to moles,
0.735 mole Cl = 1.99 mole Cl≈ 2.0 mole
divide by small,
0.368 multiply til’ whole”

Will you give us another

example sir, before having
a quiz?
We can conclude that the empirical formula
for the compound is HgCl2.

The general procedure in determining the

empirical formula of a compound.

Yes, very good!

Ok, let’s have another example.

Ascorbic Acid (vitamin C0 contains 40.92 %

C, 4.58 % H, and 54.40 % O by mass. What
is the empirical formula of ascorbic acid?
Analyze: We are given the mass percentage
of the elements in ascorbic acid and ask for
its empirical formula.

Plan: The strategy for determining the

empirical formula of a substance from its
elemental composition involves four steps
refers to the figure.

Solve: We first assume that we have 100 g

of material. In 100 g of ascorbic acid, we will
have 40.92 g C, 4.58 g H, and 54.50 g O.

Second, we calculate the number of

moles of each element in 100 g of the
compound:

C = (40.92 g C) 1 mol C_______________12.0

g C = 3.407 mol C

H = (4.58 g H) 1 mol H_______________1.008

g H = 4.54 mol H

O = (54.50 g O) 1 mol
O_______________16.00 g O = 3.046 mol O

Third, we determine the simplest whole-

number ratio of moles by dividing each
number of moles by the smallest number of
moles, 3.046:

C: 3.047_________3.046 = 1
 H: 4.54_________3.046 = 1.33

O: 3.046_________3.046 = 1

The ratio for H is too far from 1 to attribute

the difference to experimental error; in fact,
it is quite close to 1. This suggest that if we
multiply the ratio by 3, we will obtain whole
numbers:

C:H:O: 3(1:1.33:1) = 3:4:3

The whole-number ratio gives us the

subscripts for the empirical formula. Thus
the empirical formula is C3H4O3.

I. EVALUATION

Determine the empirical formula of this compound if the sample contains

85.7 percent N and 12.5 percent H by mass.

II. ASSIGNMENT

Determine the empirical formulas of the compounds with the following

compositions by mass:

(a) 10.4 percent Carbon, 27.8 percent Sulfur, and 61.7 percent Chlorine

(b) 21.7 percent Carbon, 9.6 percent Oxygen, and 68.7 percent Fluorine