[chrisjohns]

For the following problem I'm not sure where to start:

A 0.5662g sample of an ionic compound containing chloride and an unknown metal is dissociated in water and reacted with an excess of AgNO3. If  1.0882g of AgCl precipitate (solid) forms, what is the % by mass of the Cl in the original compound?

I understand that % by mass is obtained by dividing the mass of each element in a compound by the total mass of the compound. Im also assuming I have to figure out what the unknown element is, but I don't lnow how to go about doing that. I know by forming a balanced equation I can solve this, but I just can't put it all together. I have a hunch that the unknown element is either Na or NH4  I just don't know how to prove this. Does it also have to do with the type of reaction this is, and specifically what is that?Help anyone?Thanks Chris

[AWK]

All chloride anions from your sample forms AgCl. Calculate their mass in AgCl, then percent of Cl in your sample

[chrisjohns]

Should I divided the mass of Cl 35.45 by the mass of AgCl 1.0882g or the formula weight of AgCl 142.82 than times by 100%

[english]

Follow this flow diagram:

mol AgCl ---> mol Cl ---> g Cl

You now have grams of chloride, so you can get a percent.

[chrisjohns]

thanks for the *delete me*
Chris