A friend has some questions about empirical formulas and molecular formulas. You can assume that he is good at performing the calculations.
a. For a problem that asked him to determine the empirical formula, he came up with the answer C2H8O2. Is this a possible answer to the problem? If not, what guidance would you offer your friend?
b. For another problem he came up with the answer C1.5H4 as the empirical formula. Is this answer correct? Once again, if it isn’t correct, what could you do to help your friend?
c. Since you have been a big help, your friend asks one more question. He completed a problem of the same type as Example 3.12. His answers indicate that the compound had an empirical formula of C3H8O and the molecular formula C3H8O. Is this result possible?