A white compound is
analyzed and found to contain
43.64% phosphorous
and 56.36% oxygen by mass.
What can we do to
compare the moles?
So we now have 1.409 moles of P &
3.523 moles of O.
Do this by dividing both mole values
by the smaller one.
O
?
1.409
3.523
and
P
?
1.409
1.409
=
=
3rd Step: Convert the smaller number to one.
Empirical
Formula Example 1