Percentage of zinc = 50.81%
Percentage of Phosphorous = 16.05%
Percentage of oxygen = 33.14%
The molecular formula of zinc phosphate is given as:
[tex]Zn_3\mleft(PO_4\mright)_2[/tex]To get the percentage of each element in the compound, we will apply the formula:
[tex]\%\text{composition = }\frac{molar\text{ mass of the element}}{molar\text{ mass of the compound}}\times100[/tex]Get the molar mass of the compound.
Given the molar masses of the elements
Zinc = 65.38g/mol
Phosphorous = 30.97g/mol
Oxygen = 15.99g/mol
[tex]\begin{gathered} \text{Molar mass of }\mleft(Zn_3\mleft(PO_4\mright)_2\mright)=3(65.38)+2(30.97)+8(15.99) \\ \text{Molar mass of }(Zn_3(PO_4)_2)=196.14+61.94+127.92 \\ \text{Molar mass of }(Zn_3(PO_4)_2)=386\text{g/mol} \end{gathered}[/tex]Get the percentage composition by mass of each element:
For Zinc element;
[tex]\begin{gathered} \%\text{ of Zn = }\frac{196.14}{386}\times100 \\ \%\text{ of Zn }=50.81\% \end{gathered}[/tex]For Phosphorous element
[tex]\begin{gathered} \%\text{ of Phosphorous = }\frac{61.94}{386}\times100 \\ \%\text{ of Phosphorous = }16.05\% \end{gathered}[/tex]For the oxygen element;
[tex]\begin{gathered} \%\text{ of Oxygen = }\frac{127.92}{386}\times100 \\ \%\text{ of Oxygen }=\text{ }33.14\% \end{gathered}[/tex]Therefore the percentage composition of Zinc, Phosphorous, and Oxygen in zinc phosphate is 50.81%, 16.05%, and 33.14% respectively