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The elemental makeup of a compound defines its chemical identity, and chemical formulas are the most succinct way of representing this elemental makeup. But what if the chemical formula of a substance is unknown? In this section, these same principles will be applied to derive the chemical formulas of unknown substances from experimental mass measurements. Given the chemical formula of the substance, one may determine the amount of the substance (moles) from its mass, and vice versa. The previous section discussed the relationship between the bulk mass of a substance and the number of atoms or molecules it contains (moles).
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Compute the percent composition of a compound.By the end of this section, you will be able to:
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