of an organic compound is heated with fuming and in a Carius tube, yielding of . What is the percent — Practical Organic Chemistry and Purification Chemistry Question
Question
$0.32\ \text{g}$ of an organic compound is heated with fuming $HNO_3$ and $BaCl_2$ in a Carius tube, yielding $0.932\ \text{g}$ of $BaSO_4$. What is the percentage of sulphur in the compound? (Atomic masses: $Ba=137$, $S=32$, $O=16$)
💡 Solution & Explanation
The percentage of sulphur is determined by the formula: $\%S = \frac{32}{233} \times \frac{\text{Mass of } BaSO_4}{\text{Mass of compound}} \times 100$. Plugging in the provided values: $\%S = \frac{32}{233} \times \frac{0.932}{0.32} \times 100$. Recognizing that $0.932 = 4 \times 0.233$, the equation simplifies to $\%S = \frac{32 \times 4 \times 10^{-3}}{0.32} \times 100 = \frac{0.128}{0.32} \times 100 = 40\%$.