CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

For question F9 (7th edition), the question asks for the ratio of C:H:O, given certain mass percentages. Should we answer in the form of an empirical formula, or in the form of an actual ratio (#:#:#)?

I believe you should answer in the form of a ratio.

I would answer the question in a ratio and a formula just to be safe. The question does just ask for the ratio, but better safe than sorry.

For the question being asked, I think it's safer to use the actual ratio of atoms present. The question states "in what atom ratios are the atoms present in VANILLIN" so I would assume that you would write the actual number of atoms present in that compound. In this particular case, the empirical formula is the same as the molecular formula so it doesn't make a difference.

Hope this helps.

For the question, I believe that all it asked for was to give an answer in the form of a ratio, the way information is given to us I don't think that giving the empirical formula would be necessary. It would not be hard to give both answers though.

The question states in the form of a ratio, so in this case, I wrote it in C:H:O form. However if it doesn't specify, I would stick with the empirical formula.