Question

Which of the following molecules has/have the same empirical formula as acetic acid (HC2O2H3)? (a) Formaldehyde (b) Benzaldehyde (c) Glucose

Answer 1

Answer: Option (a) is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

A chemical formula which represents proportions between the elements present in a compound is known as empirical formula.

When chemical or molecular formula is able to be reduced to smaller whole-number ratio of the elements then both molecular and empirical formulas are considered to be the same.

Relation between molecular formula and empirical formula is as follows.

Molecular formula = n × Empirical formula

where, n is an integer.

Chemical formula of acetic acid is
`CH_(3)COOH`.

Chemical formula of formaldehyde is
`CH_(2)O`. It is the smaller whole-number ratio of molecular formula of acetic acid.

Chemical formula of Benzaldehyde is
`C_(6)H_(5)COOH`.

Chemical formula of glucose is
`C_(6)H_(12)O_(6)`.

Thus, we can conclude that formaldehyde molecules has/have the same empirical formula as acetic acid (
`HC_(2)O_(2)H_(3)`).