I know its a stretch but can someone help me calc empirical

[jentastic]

Ok so i know this isn't exactly a chemistry help site but my boyfriend gets on here sometimes and From my understanding there are poeple on here who actually know a lot about chemistry. Im trying to do mt home work and i can seem to calculate this empirical formula correctly
A compound containing selenium and fluorine is decomposed in the laboratory and produces 2.231 {\rm g} of selenium and 3.221 {\rm g} of fluorine.
I keep getting Se6 F what am i doing wrong?

 

[jentastic]

If it helps i stated by dividing the given amounts by their atomic mass to get a mole value and which gave me se.02825 and F .16952 I rounded to .028 and .170 and then divided both by .028 which gave me SE1 or just sSe and F 6 and since Se is the metal it should be listed first so I am not really SUre what i am doign wrong? and ideas would be helpful

 

[jentastic]

yes it is just selenium and fluorine

 

[Mr.Smith]

the calculation is ok but its SeF6. still dont know where you are going wrong



2.231g Se x (1mol Se)/(78.96g Se) =0.02825481256332 or 0.028

3.221g F x (1mol F)/(18.9984g F) = 0.16954059289203 or 0.170

there is less Se than F so

0.028mol Se/0.028 =1mol Se
0.170mol F/0.028 = 6.071mol F =6mol F (i made a mess of rounding up but close enough)

 

[jentastic]

Thats what i got too but it was still telling me it was wrong and im not sure why mabe there is an error in the system thanks though

 

[IJesusChrist]

SeF6 not Se6F...

 

[jentastic]

thats all i was doing was entering it wrong and i even knew it was f6 not Se 6 lol i fell like an idiot thanks a lot though