Mole Concept

Lesson 3 – Stoichiometry: Mole Concept
A 10 g sample of water is compared with a 100 g sample of the same compound. Is there
among the two that contains more water in terms of composition? Why or why not?
In order to understand how will a 100 g sample of water and a 10 sample of water will have the
same percent composition, we must understand the concept behind this which is none other than
the molar mass.
- Molar Mass
The molar mass can be obtained by adding all molecular weights of all elements is a compound.
Molecular weights can be determined by multiply the atomic weight of each element by their own
subscripts.
Example:
1. Determine the molar mass of H2O
H has a subscript of 2, therefore it has 2 mol. O has no subscript, therefore it has 1 mol.
The solution will be written as follows:
H–2x1
O – 1 x 16
H has an atomic weight of 1 while O has an atomic weight of 16.
H–2x1=2
O – 1 x 16 = 16
2 and 16 are the molecular weight of H and O respectively. In order to determine the molar
mass of the whole compound, simply add the two molecular weights.
H – 2 x1 = 2
O – 1 x 16 = 16
18 g/mol
The molar mass of H2O is 18 g/mol. The unit of molar mass is g/mol (grams per mole) because
the unit of the atomic weight is g/mol. Since the molecular subscript does not have any unit, we
will follow the unit of the atomic weight.
2. Determine the molar mass of Fe2(SO4)3

Follow the above steps in writing for the solution.
Fe – 2 x 56 = 112
S – 3 x 32 = 96
O – 12 x 16 = 192
Fe has 2 mol. S has a total of 3. Since there is no subscript for S, it has 1 mol. But S is part of
the SO4 molecule and SO4 has a total of 3 mol. Therefore, the subscript outside the parenthesis
will by distributed to all elements inside it (all elements of the polyatomic ion/ SO4 molecule). O
has 4 multiplied by 3 so it has a total number of moles of 12 mol. 112, 96 and 192 are the
elements’ molecular weights. Add them to obtain:
Fe – 2 x 56 = 112
S – 3 x 32 = 96
O – 12 x 16 = 192
400 g/mol
The molar mass of Fe2(SO4)3 is 400 g/mol.
- Percent Composition
The percent composition of a compound on the other hand can be obtained by dividing each
elements’
molecular weight by the compound’s molar mass. The quotient of each element will be then
divided by 100%.
The molar mass of Fe2(SO4)3 is 400 g/mol.
Example:
Calculate the percent composition of H2O.
STEP 1: Do the steps in calculating for the molar mass.
H – 2 x1 = 2
O – 1 x 16 = 16
18 g/mol
STEP 2: Divide each molecular weights by the molar mass.
H – 2 x1 = 2 / 18 = 0.11
O – 1 x 16 = 16 / 18 = 0.89
18 g/mol
STEP 3: Then multiply the ratio by 100 % to obtain the percentage of each element in the
compound.
H – 2 x1 = 2 / 18 = 0.11 x 100 = 11%

O – 1 x 16 = 16 / 18 = 0.89 x 100 = 89%
18 g/mol 100%
The compound H2O had a total percent composition of 100%. However, what we are looking for
is the percent composition of each individual elements in the compound. According to the
calculation, H2O is 11% hydrogen and 89% oxygen.
-Empirical Formula
These are the steps in calculating the empirical formula:
1. Determine the masses of each element in the compound. If the elements in the compound are
expressed in percentage, treat the percentages of each element as mass in grams.
2. Determine the no. of moles of each element by dividing the mass by each elements’ atomic
weight.
3. Get the mole ratio of each element by dividing each element by the least no. of moles.
4. Convert the quotient to whole number by rounding off using the decimal nos. (0-3 retain, 8-9
round off, 4-7 multiply by any number to make it as a whole number). Take note that if you multiply
one mole ratio by a number, you will multiply the rest of the mole ratios by that same number.
5. The whole number ratio of each element will be the subscript of each element in the compound.
Example:
1. Determine the empirical formula of a compound that contains 15.8% C and 84.2% S.
STEP 1: Determine the masses of each element in the compound. If the elements in the
compound are expressed in percentage, treat the percentages of each element as mass
in grams. Since the given elements are in percentages, simply change it into g.
C – 15.8 g
S – 84.2 g
STEP 2: Determine the no. of moles of each element by dividing the mass by each
elements’ atomic weight.
C – 15.8 g / 12 g/mol = 1.32 mol
S – 84.2 g / 32 g/mol = 2.63 mol
STEP 3: Get the mole ratio of each element by dividing each element by the least no. of
moles.
C – 15.8 g / 12 g/mol = 1.32 mol / 1.32 mol = 1.0
S – 84.2 g / 32 g/mol = 2.63 mol / 1.32 mol = 1.9
STEP 4: Convert the quotient to whole number by rounding off using the decimal nos.
(0-3 retain, 8-9 round off, 4-7 multiply by any number to make it as a whole number).
Since the mole ratio of C is 1, according the rule stated above, 1.0 is retained. However,
in the case of S, the mole ratio is 1.99. Following the rule in rounding off decimal
numbers in empirical formula, 1.99 is rounded off into 2.
C = 1.0 or 1
S = 1.9 or 2
STEP 5: The whole number ratio of each element will be the subscript of each element
in the compound.
C=1
S=2
CS2 is the empirical formula of the compound.
2. What is the empirical formula of a compound that is found to contain 40.0 g C, 6.7 g H and
53.3 g O?
Following the steps in calculating the empirical formula we will have the solution as:
C – 40.0 g / 12 g/mol = 3.33 mol / 3.33 mol = 1.0 or 1

H – 6.7 g / 1 g/mol = 6.7 mol / 3.33 mol = 2.01 or 2
O – 53.3 g / 16 g/mol = 3.33 mol / 3.33 mol = 1.0 or 1
The empirical formula for this compound will be:
CH2O
- Molecular Formula
What is molecular formula?
- It is the whole number multiple of the empirical formula.

- It is a chemical formula that represents the exact number of moles of each element in a
compound.
Steps in calculating the molecular formula:

1. Determine the empirical mass.
Empirical mass = molar mass of the empirical formula
2. Calculate the empirical units:
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑
emp. units =
𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠
3. Multiply the empirical units to the empirical formula.
4. The product is equal to the subscript for the empirical formula.
Example:
Calculate the molecular formula of chrysotile Mg 3Si2H3O8. The molar mass of this chrysotile is
520.8 g/mol.
STEP 1: Determine the empirical mass.
Mg – 3 x 24 g/mol = 72 g/mol
Si – 2 x 28 g/mol = 56 g/mol
H – 3 x 1 g/mol = 3 g/mol
O = 8 x 16 g/mol = 128 g/mol
259 g/mol → empirical mass
STEP 2: Calculate the empirical units:
520.8 𝑔/𝑚𝑜𝑙
emp. units = = 2.01 or 2
259 𝑔/𝑚𝑜𝑙
The empirical units of the compound is 2. We will also follow the rules of rounding off decimals
from the empirical formula for the empirical units. Since 2 has a decimal number of 0.01, the
empirical unit is 2 because we retained the whole number for 2.01.
STEP 3: Multiply the empirical units to the empirical formula.
(Mg3Si2H3O8)2 = Mg6Si4H6O16 → molecular formula of chrysotile.
STEP 4: Final answer : Mg6Si4H6O16

Mole Concept

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Lesson 3 – Stoichiometry: Mole Concept

2. Determine the molar mass of Fe2(SO4)3

The molar mass of Fe2(SO4)3 is 400 g/mol.

The molar mass of Fe2(SO4)3 is 400 g/mol.

STEP 1: Do the steps in calculating for the molar mass.

STEP 2: Divide each molecular weights by the molar mass.

H – 2 x1 = 2 / 18 = 0.11 x 100 = 11%

These are the steps in calculating the empirical formula:

CS2 is the empirical formula of the compound.

C – 40.0 g / 12 g/mol = 3.33 mol / 3.33 mol = 1.0 or 1

The empirical formula for this compound will be:

What is molecular formula?

- It is the whole number multiple of the empirical formula.

Steps in calculating the molecular formula:

STEP 1: Determine the empirical mass.

O = 8 x 16 g/mol = 128 g/mol

259 g/mol → empirical mass

STEP 2: Calculate the empirical units:

STEP 3: Multiply the empirical units to the empirical formula.

(Mg3Si2H3O8)2 = Mg6Si4H6O16 → molecular formula of chrysotile.

STEP 4: Final answer : Mg6Si4H6O16

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