Practice: A 7.74 g sample of HCN is found to contain 0.287 g of H and 4.01 g N. Find the mass of carbon in a sample of HCN with a mass of 3.43 g.
"Different samples of a pure chemical compound always contain the same proportions of elements by mass."
Proust's Law of Definite Proportions
Concept #1: Law of Definite Proportions
Example #1: Two unknown compounds are examined. Compound A contains 2.0 grams of hydrogen and 32.0 grams of oxygen. Compound B contains 15.0 grams of hydrogen and 120.0 grams of oxygen. Do Compounds A and B represent the same compound?
Example #2: A compound contains only calcium and fluorine. A sample of the compound is determined to contain 2.00 g of calcium and 1.90 g of fluorine. According to the Law of Definite Proportions, how much calcium should another sample of this compound contain if it possesses 2.85 g of fluorine?
