Which of the following compounds does not contain a polyatomic ion? How do you determine this?

Question

calcium carbonate
calcium sulfate
calcium phosphate
calcium sulfide?

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Answer 1 · 2018-06-03T20:37:28

Calcium Sulfide: #"CaS"#

A polyatomic ion is an ion with multiple atoms.

Polyatomic ions examples:

sulfate: #"SO"_4^(2-)#

phosphite: #"PO"_3^(3-)#

ammonium: #"NH"_4^+#

Monoatomic ions examples:

chloride: #"Cl"^-#

iron(III): #"Fe"^(3+)#

oxide: #"O"^(2-)#

Most monoatomic anions end with -ide, such as oxide and fluoride. Calcium #("Ca")# sulfide #("S")# would follow that rule.