Journal Entry:

 If the empirical formula for a molecule is CH₂ and the molecular mass is 84g/mole, what is the molecular formula?

Learning Intentions

• You will learn what combustion analysis is and how it can be used to determine empirical formula for a fuel.

• You will learn about Stoichiometry the process of using dimensional analysis to convert the amount of one component of a chemical reaction into an amount of another component of the chemical reaction. 

• You will be able to identify when one of the reactants limits the chemical reaction and calculate how the theoretical yield of the reaction is affected.

• You will learn how to calculate the percent yield when the actual yield of a reaction differs from the theoretical yield.

Closing task:

You can assess your understanding of using combustion analysis to determine empirical formula for an unknown fuel.

Content Standards being covered:

Conservation of atoms makes it possible to compute the masses of substances involved in physical and chemical processes. Chemical processes result in the formation of new substances, and the amount of these depends on the number and the types and masses of elements in the reactants, as well as the efficiency of the transformation (EK 1.E.2)

Quantitative information can be derived from stoichiometric calculations that utilize the mole ratios from the balanced chemical equations. The role of stoichiometry in real world applications is important to note, so that it does not seem to be simply an exercise done only by chemists. (EK 3.A.2)