Talk:Phosphite
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I always hear about phosphorous in relationship to water pollution. Could somebody write about this substances role in water pollution and it's environmental impact?
- You probably mean phosphates. There is a big difference between phosphorus (P), phosphorous (HPO32-), and phosphate (PO43-).
- See phosphate and eutrophication for the details, but in a nutshell, algae consume phosphates and oxygen to produce energy. If large amounts of phosphates are introduced into a body of water, the algae population increases exponentially and rapidly consumes the oxygen dissolved in the water. When this happens, every organism that depends on dissolved oxygen dies out and the lake loses its ability to sustain life.
- P.S. Could you please sign your posts with "~~~~" in the future?
- Darrien 07:34, 2005 Apr 29 (UTC)
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- As the phosphite article mentions briefly, salts of phosphorous acid are being considered for fertilizers, apparently because they are more soluble than, say, ammonium phosphate.--Smokefoot 22:23, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
I disagree with the formula. Phosphite ion should be PO33−. I do not buy the explanation that Phosphorous acid is a diprotic acid, since the hydrogen bonded directly to the central phosphorus atom is not ionizable because oxygen is much more electronegative than phosphorus, so it would make sense for all the hydrogens to bind to the oxygens.
- I agree, the dianion is initially a little surprising to many, but check a first-year chem book, and if that does not work, read further - say Greenwood and Earnshaw, which underpins a lot of the inorganic pages.--Smokefoot 12:48, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
