EmpiricalFormula

• ionic compounds-only have an empirical formula
  
• molecular compounds-have both an empirical and a molecular formula
  

Steps to finding the empirical formula of a substance:

1. Find the mass percent of a certain element in the original compound.
   
2. Assume 100g of the compound and find the number of moles present of each element using their atomic masses.
   
3. Divide each mole value by the smallest of the values.
   
   1. If, after rounding, you get a whole number result, then these values will represent the subscripts of the elements in the compound in its empirical form.
      
   2. If you do not end up with whole numbers as a result of the division, multipy all of the results by an integer until all of the subscripts turn out to be whole numbers.