Question

A sample of a compound of xenon and fluorine was confined in a bulb with a pressure of 16 torr. Hydrogen was added to the bulb until the pressure was 64 torr. Passage of an electric spark through the mixture produced Xe and HF. After the HF was removed by reaction with solid KOH, the final pressure of xenon and unreacted hydrogen in the bulb was 32 torr. What is the empirical formula of the xenon fluoride in the original sample?

Answer 1

The empirical formula of the xenon fluoride compound is XeF2.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the empirical formula of the xenon fluoride compound, we need to analyze the information given. Initially, the pressure of the compound was 18 torr, and after adding hydrogen and removing the produced HF, the final pressure of xenon and unreacted hydrogen was 36 torr. This means that the original pressure of the xenon fluoride was reduced by half, indicating that the ratio of xenon to hydrogen in the compound is 1:2.

Since we know that xenon fluorides contain only one xenon atom per molecule, the empirical formula of the xenon fluoride in the original sample is XeF2.