Why are moles divided by small moles in the empirical formula?

Your question is a bit vague, so I'm assuming you mean ““why, when I've found the moles of each element in a substance, do I divide all of these by the smallest number of moles?” This division automatically makes the smallest number of moles 1. It often makes the others equal to (or similar to) an integer. read more

If all moles come out close to integer then you already have the empirical formula. Any .5 values and you multiply all by two. Any .33 or .66 and you’d multiply but 3. read more

Moles and Empirical Formula The Mole Concept: A mole is a unit to count the number of atoms, ions or molecules. They believed that, for example, if one molecule of carbon dioxide (CO 2) contained 1 carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms, then the ratio of carbon atoms to oxygen atoms is 1: 2. read more

Moles of a chemical formula (or element) are calculated by dividing the grams of the formula by the molecular weight of the formula. The molecular weight is determined using the periodic table, where the number of atoms of each element in the formula (times the atomic weight) is summed up for the whole formula. read more