Question

what is the formula of sodium chlorate ??

Answer 1

NaClO3

Answer 2

A great way to remember your polyatomic ions is this mnemonic:

Nick the Camel ate a CLam for Supper in Phoenix.

The capitalized letters tell you what element we're talking about (i.e. Nick = nitrogen, phoenix=phosphate)

The number of consonants equals the number of oxygens are in the polyatmic. The number of vowels equals the charge.

It's important to remember there are 10 words in this sentence, otherwise you'll end up with Clams to make it grammatically correct and it will throw you off your game.

Nick: 3 consonants, 1 vowel. NO3-
Phoenix: 4 consonants, 3 vowels. PO43-

It's also important to note that this is mnemonic to remember all the -ate ions. Nitrate, phosphate, chlorate, carbonate. (If you forget there's the word ate in the sentence to help you remember)

To figure out the other polyatomics (i.e. nitrite, perchlorate, etc) you just see how many O's you have in the ion. Here's a chart

Hypo-___-ite
-ite
-ate
Per-_____-ate

Polyatomic ions always keep their charge.

I know this was long but it totally helps with remembering polyatomics.