Answer:
31.60% phosphorus
Explanation:
To find the percent by mass, you first calculate the total mass and then the mass of phosphorus, and finally divide phosphorus mass by total.
Phosphorus mass: the molar mass of P is 30.97 g/mol, and since there's 1 mole of P, we just have 30.97 g.
Total mass: we add all the molar masses of the components together.
We have 3 moles of H, so we multiply 3 by 1.008 g/mol = 3.024 g H.
We already calculated the mass of phosphorus: 30.97 g P.
We have 4 moles of O, so we multiply 4 by 16.00 g/mol = 64.00 g O.
The total is then the sum: 3.024 + 30.97 + 64.00 = 97.994 g ≈ 97.99 g
Now, to find the percentage, we take 30.97 g P and divide by 97.99:
30.97/97.99 ≈ 0.3160 ⇒ 31.60% P
Thus, the answer is 31.60% phosphorus.
Hope this helps!
