Please explain difference in phosphate and phosphorus

[bubbaque]

Can anyone please explain the difference between phosphate and phosphorus in an easy to understand way? Thanks!

 

[JimWelsh]

Phosphorus is an element with the symbol "P". Phosphate is an ion made up of one phosphorus atom and four oxygen atoms, referred to as "PO4". Because of those oxygen atoms, phosphate weighs 3.066 times as much as phosphorus, so to convert from phosphorus to phosphate, multiply by 3.066, and to go the other way, divide. Does that help?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you are talking about the Hanna checkers, they all detect only inorganic phosphate, regardless of what the units of measure are.

 

[bubbaque]

So phosphate and phosphorus are the same when it comes to the Hanna checker? One just measures it at a lower range?