Answer: The percent of sulfate is present in the coal samples is 0.999%.
Explanation:
Given: Percentage of sulfur present = 3%
In [tex]SO^{2-}_{4}[/tex], the percentage by weight of Sulfur is calculated as follows.
[tex]Percentage = \frac{32 g}{32 + 64} \times 100\\= 33.33 percent[/tex]
This means that the amount of only sulfur present in [tex]SO^{2-}_{4}[/tex] in the sample is as follows.
[tex]\frac{3}{100} \times 33.33\\= 0.999 percent[/tex]
Thus, we can conclude that percent of sulfate is present in the coal samples is 0.999%.