How many hydrogen atoms in phosphate salts?
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:Suppose we have the following chemical formula, say ammonium dihydrogenphosphate
(
N
H
4
)
(
H
2
P
O
4
)
. This is the ammonium salt of phosphoric acid,
H
3
P
O
4
. Its elemental composition is
N
H
6
P
O
4
, and here I have simply added the elements; but such a composition makes little chemical sense in that it is not immediately obvious that it is the ammonium salt of phosphoric acid, as the first formulation does.
Alternatively, I could have a transition metal complex, say
[
C
o
(
M
e
2
N
C
H
2
C
H
2
N
M
e
2
)
2
C
l
2
]
C
l
. If I made this and sent it off for combustion analysis I would present it as
C
o
C
l
3
C
12
H
32
N
4
. After combustion, the carbon would come off as
C
O
2
, the hydrogens as
H
2
O
, and the nitrogens as
N
2
, and I would get a very accurate determination of the purity of my compound. A Mohr tritration would give halogen content.