Answer:
[tex]\boxed {\boxed {\sf 1.5996953 \%\ or \ 1.6 \%}}[/tex]
Explanation:
Percent composition tells us the mass percentage of an element in a compound. It can be found by dividing the mass of the element by the mass of the compound, then multiplying by 100.
[tex]\frac{element \ mass}{compound \ mass} *100[/tex]
1. Compound Mass
The compound given is HNO₃
- Hydrogen (H) and Nitrogen (N) have no subscript, implying there is 1 atom of each element.
- Oxygen (O) has a subscript of 3, so there are 3 atoms.
Use the Periodic Table to find the masses of each element.
- Hydrogen: 1.008 u
- Nitrogen: 14.007 u
- Oxygen: 15.999 u
Next, multiply each element's mass by the number of atoms, then add them together.
- (1.008 u) + (14.007 u) + (3 * 15.999 u)
- 63.012 u
2. Percent Composition
Now we know that HNO₃'s mass is 63.012 u. This is the compound mass.
We want to find the percent of hydrogen and its mass is 1.008 u. This is the element mass.
[tex]\frac{1.008 \ u }{63.012\ u } *100[/tex]
[tex]0.015996953*100[/tex]
[tex]1.5996953[/tex]
This can be rounded to the nearest tenth. The 9 in the hundredth place tells us to round the 5 to a 6.
[tex]\approx 1.6[/tex]
The percent of hydrogen in HNO₃ is 1.5996953% or about 1.6%
