Question

Chemical name of $N{{a}_{3}}P{{O}_{4}}$
A) Sodium phosphate
B) Sodium phosphite
C) Sodium hypo-phosphate
D) None of these

Answer 1

Hint: The answer for this question can be approached by naming the chemical compound based on the formula that is by the number of atoms present in that compound and naming accordingly as tri, di, hypo, bis, tris etc.

Complete answer:
In the classes of chemistry, we have studied the basic concept of chemistry which tells about the naming of the chemical compound based on the rules such as IUPAC rule and also about the common names given to some of the compounds.
We shall see the naming of the above given compound using these rules.
- Firstly in the formula given that is $N{{a}_{3}}P{{O}_{4}}$, there are three atoms of sodium and one atom of phosphorus and four atoms of oxygen.
- The compound given belongs to the class of inorganic compounds known as alkali metal phosphate. Here, the phosphate group is the $P{{O}_{4}}$.
- Thus, by this information, we can say that the ending name of the compound is phosphate.
- Now, since there are three sodium atoms, it is thus called by the prefix ‘tri’ (meaning three). Hence, the overall name for this compound is nothing but trisodium phosphate.
Since, the compound can be named by the simple name, this compound can also be called simply as sodium phosphate and by knowing the formula of the phosphate group, we can calculate the valency of the sodium atom to be present in this compound.

Thus, the correct answer is option A) Sodium phosphate.

Note:
Note that the phosphate group present in this inorganic compound is the largest oxoanion and in which the heaviest atom not in an oxoanion is an alkali metal and here in this particular case it is sodium.