What is the Ionic Charge of Antimony (Sb)? And Why?

Charge of Antimony (Sb)

The common Ionic Charges of Antimony (Sb) are 3-, 3+ and 5+.

But the question is how can you find the ionic charge on Antimony (Sb)?

Well, antimony is one of the elements that have a variable ionic charge.

The ionic charge of antimony depends on what it is bonded with.

So let’s try to find out the ionic charge of Antimony (Sb) using some examples.

You can also refer to the below video from which you will learn to find charge of any ion.

How to find the ionic charge of Antimony (Sb)?

As I mentioned earlier, the ionic charge of Antimony (Sb) can be found out by looking at what it is bonded with.

So let’s take examples of compounds of Antimony (Sb) like SbCl3, Sb2O5, SbH3, etc.

Example 1: SbCl3
In SbCl3, the Antimony (Sb) is bonded to Chlorine (Cl).
You know that the ionic charge of Cl is 1-.
So you can easily say that the ionic charge of Sb should be 3+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Antimony in SbCl3 is 3+.

Example 2: Sb2O5
In Sb2O5, the Antimony (Sb) is bonded to Oxygen (O).
And again, you know that the ionic charge of O is 2-.
So here also you can easily say that the ionic charge of Sb should be 5+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Antimony in Sb2O5 is 5+.

Example 3: SbH3
Similarly in SbH3, the Antimony (Sb) is bonded to Hydrogen (H).
And you know that the ionic charge of H is 1+.
So from this, you can easily say that the ionic charge of Sb should be 3-, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Antimony in SbH3 is 3-.

In this way, Antimony can have variable charges depending on what it is bonded to.

But as seen from the above examples,
The most common charges of Antimony (Sb) are 3-, 3+ and 5+.

I hope you have understood why antimony has variable ionic charges.

Check out some other related topics for your practice.

Related topics:
Charge of Molybdenum (Mo)
Charge on HCN
Charge on N2O (Nitrous oxide)
Charge of Germanium (Ge)
Charge on H2S 

Author

Jay is an educator and has helped more than 100,000 students in their studies by providing simple and easy explanations on different science-related topics. With a desire to make learning accessible for everyone, he founded Knords Learning, an online learning platform that provides students with easily understandable explanations.

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