Give the Basicity of H3PO4

Give the Basicity of H₃PO₄

a) 3 

b) 5

c) 4

d) 2 

Ans Option a – 3

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H₃PO₄ is a phosphoric acid and its Basicity is 3 which is the option a of the question. Now let’s understand what Basicity is. Basicity is a very important concept of the Chemistry subject and this Concept is associated with acids and bases.

In simple words Basicity is generally the number of acidic hydrogen atoms present in a molecule.  The Basicity of a compound is explained as the amount of acidic hydrogen atoms present in the compound. For a hydrogen atom to become acidic it should be bonded with very strong electronegative atoms such as fluorine or oxygen atoms. Therefore, in H₃PO₄ hydrogen atoms are bonded or attached with three oxygen atoms which makes it acidic. Hence, the Basicity of H₃PO₄ is 3. Therefore H₃PO₄ is a tribasic acid because the Basicity of this compound has come up as 3. In simple words , the process of Basicity means in which a number of hydrogen atoms can be replaced by a base in a particular acid. H₃PO₄ carries three ionisable atoms. Therefore the Basicity of the H₃PO₄ is 3 which also makes it a tribasic acid in nature.