How to find empirical formulas

Question

many homes in rural america are heated by propane gas, a compound that contains only carbon and hydrogen. complete combustion of a sample of propane produced 2.641g of carbon dioxide and 1.442g of water as the only products. find the empirical formula of propane.

please show work

Answer 1

Calculate mol CO2 and mol H20 from given masses.

mol C in propane = mol CO2

mol H in propane = 2 x mol H20

Find empirical formula from ratio mol H/mol C. If the ratio is not an integer multiply by the integer that gives close to an integer ratio