Chapter 5, Problem 85E

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The given compounds are to be arranged in the order of their decreasing formula mass.

Concept introduction:

Formula mass signifies the average mass of the compound.

For any compound, the formula mass is the sum of the atomic masses of all the atoms in its chemical formula:

$\begin{array}{c}\text{Formula mass = }\left(\#\text{Atoms of 1st element in chemical formula}\times \text{Atomic mass of 1st element}\right)\\ +\left(\#\text{Atoms of 2nd element in chemical formula}\times \text{Atomic mass of 2nd element}\right)\\ +\mathrm{...}\end{array}$ Here, #atoms represents the number of atoms of the elements.