{"id":37870,"date":"2025-06-26T06:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T06:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=37870"},"modified":"2025-06-26T06:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T06:48:11","slug":"the-metaphosphate-ion-po3-is-the-structural-analog-of-the-no3-ion-with-respect-to-the-arrangement-of-the-atoms-in-the-ion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/the-metaphosphate-ion-po3-is-the-structural-analog-of-the-no3-ion-with-respect-to-the-arrangement-of-the-atoms-in-the-ion\/","title":{"rendered":"The metaphosphate ion, PO3 &#8211; , is the structural analog of the NO3 &#8211; ion with respect to the arrangement of the atoms in the ion."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The metaphosphate ion, PO3 &#8211; , is the structural analog of the NO3 &#8211; ion with respect to the arrangement of the atoms in the ion. After drawing the &#8220;best&#8221; Lewis structure for the metaphosphate ion based on formal charge considerations, what is the number of resonance structures for this &#8220;best&#8221; Lewis structure? a. 1 (no resonance) b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 e. 5<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">ChatGPT said:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Correct answer: c. 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine the number of resonance structures for the metaphosphate ion (PO\u2083\u207b), we begin by drawing the best Lewis structure using formal charge considerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Count the total valence electrons<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Phosphorus (P) has 5 valence electrons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oxygen (O) has 6 valence electrons \u00d7 3 = 18<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The ion has a -1 charge, which adds 1 more electron<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Total = 5 + 18 + 1 = 24 valence electrons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Draw the skeleton structure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We place phosphorus (the least electronegative atom) in the center with three oxygen atoms surrounding it, forming single bonds initially. This uses up 3 \u00d7 2 = 6 electrons. The remaining 18 electrons are placed as lone pairs on the oxygens to complete their octets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now phosphorus has only 6 electrons around it. Phosphorus can expand its octet (being in Period 3), so to reduce formal charges and stabilize the structure, we can form a double bond between phosphorus and one of the oxygen atoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Determine the formal charges<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With one double bond and two single bonds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The double bonded oxygen has a formal charge of 0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each single bonded oxygen has a formal charge of -1<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The phosphorus has a formal charge of +1<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Total formal charge = -1, matching the ion\u2019s charge. This structure minimizes formal charges and is considered the \u201cbest\u201d Lewis structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 4: Resonance structures<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Because any of the three oxygen atoms can form the double bond with phosphorus, we can draw <strong>three equivalent resonance structures<\/strong> by rotating the position of the double bond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are <strong>3<\/strong> resonance structures for the metaphosphate ion, each equivalent in energy and structure. These structures represent the delocalization of electrons in the molecule, and the actual ion is a resonance hybrid of all three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Correct choice: c. 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"852\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-985.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37877\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-985.jpeg 852w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-985-250x300.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-985-768x923.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 852px) 100vw, 852px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The metaphosphate ion, PO3 &#8211; , is the structural analog of the NO3 &#8211; ion with respect to the arrangement of the atoms in the ion. After drawing the &#8220;best&#8221; Lewis structure for the metaphosphate ion based on formal charge considerations, what is the number of resonance structures for this &#8220;best&#8221; Lewis structure? a. 1 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37879,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37870\/revisions\/37879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}