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Topic: writing formula for aluminium sulfate  (Read 10208 times)

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Offline nige77

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writing formula for aluminium sulfate
« on: January 25, 2012, 08:32:14 PM »
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I am very new to chemistry.I know the polyatomic ion sulphate is SO4
Why when combined with aluminium Al do you end up with

Al2 (SO4)3?why do we need 3 sulfates??

Offline UG

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Re: writing formula for aluminium sulfate
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2012, 08:42:18 PM »
That is because aluminium as an ion has a charge of +3, so in order to balance the charges, you need three sulfate ions for every two aluminium ions (ie, +6 charge and -6 charge cancels out)

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