Question

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

Answer 1

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+)"`