Determine the empirical formulas for the compounds with the following percent composition: 28.6% oxygen 57.6% strontium, 13.8% phosphorus, and 28.6% Sr_(3)P_(4)O_(5) Sr_(2)P_(2)O_(8) Sr_(3)P_(2)O_(8) Sr_(3)P_(3)O_(6) Multiple Choice 1 point

To determine the empirical formula for a compound with the given percent composition, we need to convert the percentages to grams and then to moles.<br /><br />Given:<br />- 28.6% oxygen<br />- 57.6% strontium<br />- 13.8% phosphorus<br /><br />Assuming we have 100 grams of the compound, we can calculate the mass of each element:<br />- Oxygen: 28.6 grams<br />- Strontium: 57.6 grams<br />- Phosphorus: 13.8 grams<br /><br />Next, we convert the masses to moles using the molar masses of each element:<br />- Oxygen (O): 16.00 g/mol<br />- Strontium (Sr): 87.62 g/mol<br />- Phosphorus (P): 30.97 g/mol<br /><br />Moles of each element:<br />- Oxygen: 28.6 g / 16.00 g/mol = 1.79 mol<br />- Strontium: 57.6 g / 87.62 g/mol = 0.66 mol<br />- Phosphorus: 13.8 g / 30.97 g/mol = 0.44 mol<br /><br />Now, we need to find the simplest whole number ratio of moles of each element. We do this by dividing each mole value by the smallest mole value among them:<br />- Oxygen: 1.79 mol / 0.44 mol = 4.07<br />- Strontium: 0.66 mol / 0.44 mol = 1.50<br />- Phosphorus: 0.44 mol / 0.44 mol = 1<br /><br />To get whole numbers, we can multiply all ratios by a common factor to get the smallest whole number ratio. In this case, multiplying by 2 gives us:<br />- Oxygen: 4.07 * 2 = 8.14<br />- Strontium: 1.50 * 2 = 3<br />- Phosphorus: 1 * 2 = 2<br /><br />The empirical formula is therefore Sr3P2O8.<br /><br />So, the correct answer is:<br />$Sr_{3}P_{2}O_{8}$