Percent Composition
The percentage by mass of each element in a compound
Real World Example
Imagine you're trying to figure out how much of your monthly budget is spent on different expenses like rent, groceries, and entertainment. Just like calculating your budget percentages, percent composition in chemistry involves determining the percentage by mass of each element in a compound. In both cases, you're dividing a part (like rent or the mass of hydrogen) by the whole (your total budget or the total mass of the compound) and multiplying by 100 to find out what proportion each part contributes to the total. So, just as you might discover that rent takes up 40% of your budget, you can find out that hydrogen makes up 11% of a water molecule's mass, helping you understand the distribution of elements within a compound.
