Methyl salicylate is a common active ingredient in liniments such as ben-gay. It is also known as oil of wintergreen. It is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. When a sample of methyl salicylate weighing 5.287 g is burned in excess oxygen, 12.24 g of carbon dioxide and 2.505 g of water are formed. What is the simplist formula for oil of wintergreen

The empirical formula is .

Explanation:

The chemical equation for the combustion of hydrocarbon having carbon, hydrogen and oxygen follows:

where, 'x', 'y' and 'z' are the subscripts of Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen respectively.

We are given:

Mass of = 12.24 g

Mass of = 2.505 g

Molar mass of carbon dioxide = 44 g/mol

Molar mass of water = 18 g/mol

For calculating the mass of carbon:

In 44g of carbon dioxide, 12 g of carbon is contained.

So, in 12.24 g of carbon dioxide, = of carbon will be contained.

For calculating the mass of hydrogen:

In 18g of water, 2 g of hydrogen is contained.

So, in 2.505 g of water, = of hydrogen will be contained.

Mass of oxygen in the compound = (5.287) - (3.338+0.278) = 1.671  g

Step 1 : convert given masses into moles.

Moles of C =

Moles of H=

Moles of O=

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

For C =

For H =

For O =

The ratio of C : H : O = 3: 3: 1

Hence the empirical formula is .

periodic trends is an atom that gets larger as the number of electronic shells increase, the radius of atoms increases as you go down a certain group in the periodic table of elements. in general, the size of an atom will decrease as you move from left to right of a certain period.

the positions which points up in upward carbon and down in downward carbon are axial

and vice versa holds true for equatorial positions

so the correct answer with labelled diagram will be