Question

What is the empirical formula of ${P_4}{O_6}$?

Answer 1

** We have to remember that the ${P_4}{O_6}$ is a molecular name for the chemical compound phosphorus trioxide, by looking at the molecular formula you must confuse that why the chemical name is trioxide since it has six oxygen atoms so it must be tetra phosphorus hexoxide, but it is not true the as chemical name of ${P_4}{O_6}$ is suggested to be due to molecular structure packing thus it is phosphorus trioxide.

Complete answer:
We need to know that the empirical formula can be described as the lowest number ratio of elements in the compound. To find the empirical formula for any given compound it must be divided by the smallest whole number or integer so as to get the ratio. Now we need to find the empirical formula of phosphorus trioxide we must divide by two to get the lowest ratio of ${P_4}{O_6}$. So on dividing by $2$ we get the empirical formula as ${P_2}{O_3}$ , since this ratio cannot be reduced to lowest ratio thus the empirical formula will be this only i.e. ${P_2}{O_3}$.
We also remember that the molar mass of ${P_4}{O_6}$ is $220g/mol$. It appears to be in monoclinic crystals. Phosphorus trioxide can be prepared by treating phosphorus elements with oxygen.
${P_4} + 3{O_2} \to {P_4}{O_6}$

Note:
We need to remember that the empirical formula is the simplest lowest ratio of any compound. Molecular formula shows the number of atoms or elements present in any compound, whereas structural formula tells about the arrangement of atoms in a particular molecule. Molecular formulas can be represented in the units which are g/mol. In a monoclinic system the edge lengths are not equal to each other.