What is the percent of oxygen by mass in C2H4O2?

Steps to Solve

1. Determine the molar mass of C2H4O2

To find the molar mass of the compound C2H4O2, we need to sum the molar masses of all the elements in the formula. The molar masses are approximately:

• Carbon (C): 12.01 g/mol
• Hydrogen (H): 1.01 g/mol
• Oxygen (O): 16.00 g/mol

Calculating the total mass:

$$ \text{Molar mass of } C2H4O2 = (2 \times 12.01) + (4 \times 1.01) + (2 \times 16.00) $$

2. Calculate the total molar mass

Now we compute the values:

$$ \text{Molar mass of } C2H4O2 = 24.02 + 4.04 + 32.00 = 60.06 \text{ g/mol} $$

3. Calculate mass contributed by oxygen

Next, we calculate the total mass contributed by the oxygen in the compound. Since there are 2 oxygen atoms, we calculate:

$$ \text{Mass of oxygen} = 2 \times 16.00 = 32.00 \text{ g/mol} $$

4. Calculate the percent composition of oxygen

Finally, we can calculate the percent composition of oxygen by dividing the mass of oxygen by the total molar mass and then multiplying by 100 to get the percentage:

$$ \text{Percent composition of oxygen} = \left(\frac{\text{Mass of oxygen}}{\text{Molar mass}} \times 100\right) = \left(\frac{32.00}{60.06} \times 100\right) $$

5. Perform the calculation for percent composition

Now we perform the calculation:

$$ \left(\frac{32.00}{60.06} \times 100\right} \approx 53.19% $$