What is the chemical formula of sulphur trioxide?

1 Answer
Jan 27, 2017

Sulfur trioxide - #SO_"3"#.

Explanation:

Sulfur trioxide: #SO_"3"#.

How I came to this conclusion:

I noticed that the compound consists of non-metals, therefore it must be a covalent compound - meaning I use prefixes for compounds.

Sulfur is #S#. Simple enough. Trioxide has the prefix of tri, meaning "3". Therefore there is 3 atoms of oxygen. Combine them and I get #SO_"3"#.

Don't be confused with sulfite: #(SO_"3")^(2-)# and sulfate: #(SO_"4")^(2-)#

Hope this helps :)