Question

Atomicity of sulphur is ------times the atomicity of phosphorus.

Answer 1

- Hint: We know that atomicity is the number of atoms of an element present in one molecule of that element. Sulfur has 8 no. of atomicity and Phosphorus has 4. Now, we can find how much the atomicity of sulfur is there to that of atomicity of phosphorus.

Complete step-by-step solution -
In simple words, atomicity is the number of atoms constituting a molecule. Suppose in a molecule of an element, there are two atoms. So, its atomicity will be two.
As for example- A molecule of an element, there are 2 atoms,
So, its atomicity will be 2.
Example: Noble gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, etc.) have one atom each in their molecules such as He, Ne, Ar and Kr. So, the atomicity of noble gases is 1.
Example: Hydrogen (${{\text{H}}_{2}}$), nitrogen (${{\text{N}}_{2}}$), Oxygen (${{\text{O}}_{2}}$), Chlorine ($\text{C}{{\text{l}}_{2}}$), Bromine ($\text{B}{{\text{r}}_{2}}$ ) and iodine (${{\text{I}}_{2}}$ ), all have 2 atoms each in their molecules. So, the atomicity of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, chlorine, bromine and iodine is 2 each.
Atomicity of Sulfur
Number of atoms in one molecule of sulphur = 8 (because sulfur exists as ${{\text{S}}_{8}}$ ). Therefore, the atomicity of sulfur is 8.
Atomicity of Phosphorus
Number of atoms in one molecule of Phosphorus=4 (because Phosphorous exists as ${{\text{P}}_{4}}$ ). Therefore, the atomicity of phosphorus is 4.
Thus, Atomicity of sulfur is 2 times the atomicity of Phosphorus.

Note: Students should not confuse atomicity with valency. The combining capacity of an element is known as its valency. Valency is used to find out how atoms of an element will combine with the atom of another element to form a chemical compound.