How many moles of Ca2+ are present in 5.67 moles of calcium phosphate? I"m not sure how to approach the problem.

1 Answer
Sep 28, 2015

There are #17.01# moles of calcium 2+ ions in #5.67# moles of calcium phosphate.

Explanation:

The chemical formula for calcium phosphate is #"Ca"_3"(PO"_4)_2#. This means that in one mole of calcium phosphate, there are three calcium ions and two phosphate ions.

To determine the number of moles of #"Ca"^(2+)# ions that are in #5.67# moles of #"Ca"_3"(PO"_4)_2#, do the following:

#5.67 "mol Ca"""_3("PO"_4)_2xx(3 "mol Ca"^(2+))/("1 mol Ca"""_3("PO"_4)_2) = 17.01 "mol Ca"^(2+)"#