|
The only thing left to calculate is the amount of oxygen present in the vitamin C sample. It may be tempting to think that since all of the oxygen in the sample was converted to either H2O or CO2, combining the amounts of these two products would tell you how much oxygen was initially present in the sample. However, it is important to realize that the vitamin C reacted with oxygen gas. The oxygen contained in the two products came from both the vitamin C and this oxygen gas. There is no simple way to determine how exactly which reactant the oxygen came from.
However, we do know that the vitamin C sample only contains the element carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. We have already calculated how much carbon and hydrogen the sample contained. We also know the original mass of the sample. Whatever mass has not been accounted for by the carbon and hydrogen must be due to the oxygen.
Your calculations have been:
|
