What is the empirical formula of diethyl ether?
Understand the Problem
The question is asking for the empirical formula of diethyl ether, which is a specific compound. The empirical formula represents the simplest whole number ratio of the elements in the compound.
Answer
C2H5O
The empirical formula of diethyl ether is C2H5O.
Answer for screen readers
The empirical formula of diethyl ether is C2H5O.
More Information
The empirical formula represents the simplest whole-number ratio of atoms in a compound. For diethyl ether, reducing the molecular formula (C4H10O) to the simplest ratio gives C2H5O.
Tips
A common mistake is to confuse the molecular and empirical formulas. Ensure you simplify the molecular formula to the lowest whole number ratio.
Sources
- Diethyl ether - Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org
- Diethyl Ether | (C2H5)2O | CID 3283 - PubChem - pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Ethyl ether - the NIST WebBook - webbook.nist.gov
Thank you for voting!
