Question

What is the basicity of metaphosphoric acid and orthophosphoric acid?

Answer 1

Hint: The basicity of acid is calculated from the number of replaceable hydrogen ions in that acid. The replaceable hydrogen atoms are produced by the acid molecule when it is ionized in aqueous medium. We’ll discuss the basicity of the given acids using this definition and concept.

Complete Step by Step Solution:
The hydrogen-containing substance ready to donate the hydrogen ions is called acid. The substance ready to accept the hydrogen ions is called the base.

The pH scale and Litmus paper are some of the techniques used to find whether the substance is acid or base. pH means the potential of hydrogen. It is used to find the concentration of hydrogen ions in the solution.

Litmus paper is a type of indicator that shows whether the solution is acid or base by changing its color. Blue color litmus paper gets changed into red while dipping in acidic solution. Red color litmus gets changed into blue while in the basic solution.

 The acidity of bases is calculated from the number of hydroxyl ions produced by the base in the aqueous solution. The basicity of acids is calculated from the number of hydrogen ions produced by the acid in the aqueous solution. The chemical formula for metaphosphoric acid is $HP{O_3}$ and orthophosphoric acid is ${H_3}P{O_4}$.

The basicity of metaphosphoric acid is $1$ because it contains one replaceable hydrogen ion and the basicity of orthophosphoric acid is $3$ because it contains three replaceable hydrogen ions.

Note: Acidic nature substances are sour in taste and basic nature substances are bitter in taste. The substances with a pH value of 7 and more are basic and substances having pH value less than 7 are acidic in nature. For example: acetic acid has a pH value of less than 7 and detergent has a pH value of more than 7.