Question

What is the chemical formula of Ammonium phosphate?

Answer 1

Hint: Ammonium phosphate is the salt of ammonium and phosphate. The chemical formula for the ammonium phosphate is determined by considering charges on the ammonium and phosphate in ionic state.

Complete answer:
The chemical formula is a way of representing information about the chemical proportions of atoms comprising that molecule or compound. There are three types of chemical formulations i.e. empirical formula, molecular formula and condensed formula.
The chemical formula is often determined by considering the charges on the contributing atoms in a molecule.
Illustration-
The chemical formula of ammonium phosphate is determined as,
The charge on ammonium ion is +1 and the charge on the phosphate ion is -3. As ammonium phosphate is the salt of ammonium and phosphate we will cross multiply the charges to form the chemical formula.
Thus, there are three ammonium ions for each phosphate ion. Therefore, the chemical formula for ammonium phosphate is given as,
Ammonium ion - $N{{H}_{4}}^{+}$
Phosphate ion - $P{{O}_{4}}^{3-}$
Ammonium phosphate - ${{\left( N{{H}_{4}} \right)}_{3}}P{{O}_{4}}$
It is a highly unstable compound and thus, has no commercial value. It has a double salt i.e. ${{\left( N{{H}_{4}} \right)}_{2}}HP{{O}_{4}}$ , but this too is unstable.

Note:
Do note that there are many ways to determine the chemical formula but, formulation by considering the charge on the respective ions which are responsible to form a given compound, is the most feasible way out.