Question

Moles of phosphorous in 15-35-15 fertilizer in 10g

Answer 1

The composition of a fertilizer is usually express in NPK number. NPK number is in terms of Percent by mass of the said element which are Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. A 15-35-15 fertilizer has 15% Nitrogen, 35% Phosphorous, and 15% Potassium by mass. If you have 10 g of this fertilizer, to get the number of moles of phosphorus, you multiply the mass by 35%, which is equal to 10*0.35 or 3.5 g phosphorus. Then you divide the calculated mass of phosphorous by its molar mass which is 30.97 g/mol. Therefore, you have 3.5/30.97 which is equal to 0.1130 mol Phosphorus. This is the amount of Phosphorus in moles in the fertilizer.