A gas sample is found to contain 39.10% carbon, 7.67% hydrogen, 26.11% oxygen, 16.82% phosphorus, and 10.30% fluorine. If the molecular mass is 184.1 g/mol, what is the molecular formula?

C6H14O3F

Explanation:

The first step is to divide each compound by its molecular weight

Carbon

= 39.10/12

= 3.258

Hydrogen

= 7.67/1

= 7.67

Oxygen

= 26.11/16

= 1.63

Phosphorous

= 16.82/31

= 0.542

Flourine

= 10.30/19

= 0.542

The next step is to divide by the lowes value

3.258/0.542

= 6 mol of C

7.67/0.542

= 14 mol of H

1.63/0.542

= 3 mol of O

0.542/0.542

= 1 mol of P

0.542/0.542

= 1 mol of F

Hence the molecular formula is C6H14O3F

the answer is b because, investigating whether another species of moth also drinks tears might be interesting, but it would not directly explain why this species of moth does.

to explain why this species of moth drinks tears, the scientist could ask: "what nutrients that moths need are in elephant tears? "

the scientist could experiment with moth repellent or oter ways to keep the moths away, but that would not answer his original question.