I'm working on a high school chemistry book and want to double check one of the homework assignments. The question is for students to write the empirical and molecular formula for 1,2-dichloroethane. I can't find this online. The molecular formula is given as C2H4Cl2, but could this also be the empirical formula? I don't find any sites as listing the empirical formula as CH2Cl.
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1 Answer
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The molecular formula and empirical formula are right. As we known, empirical formula of a chemical compound is the simplest positive integer ratio of atoms present in a compound.
If the compound molecular formula is C2H4Cl2, so we divide it with 2, 4, and 2 GCD / greatest common divisor. The GCD is 2, so the empirical formula is CH2Cl.
