H3PO4 is it phospheric acid
or trihydrogenphosphate?
According to Wikipedia, the name phosphoric acid is the IUPAC name for H3PO4. You can read about it here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphoric_acid
H3PO4 is phosphoric acid. To determine the name of a chemical compound, you need to identify the elements present and their corresponding oxidation states.
In H3PO4, we have:
- The symbol 'H' represents hydrogen with an oxidation state of +1.
- The symbol 'P' represents phosphorus, which typically has an oxidation state of +5.
- The symbol 'O' represents oxygen, which generally has an oxidation state of -2.
Since phosphoric acid consists of one phosphorus atom bonded with four oxygen atoms, we can determine the name.
If the compound consisted of a phosphate ion (PO4) with a hydrogen ion (H+) added, it would be called trihydrogenphosphate. However, in this case, we have phosphoric acid because each hydrogen atom is bonded directly to an oxygen atom, resulting in a more acidic compound.