binglordi

thank you & your friend. i was a little more interested in how this was done before all these fancy machines and techniques were discovered. the answer appears to be combustion analysis? i google'd around for hours before coming across what i think is the correct broad subject term, elemental analysis?

sorry if this is so stupid, i dont start chem until next year. but how do scientists determine the molecular formula of chemicals? for example, how do scientists know that water has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen? or lets pretend glucose is an unknown substance, how would a scientist find out it has 6 carbon 12 hydrogen 6 oxygen?