Question: how many nonbonding electron pairs are in a phosphate ion?
Answer: The molecule has a total of 8 non-bonding electrons, distributed as 3 lone pairs on iodine and 1 lone pair on nitrogen, and 8 bonding electrons, distributed in 1 single bond and 1 triple bond. All the 16 valence electrons are accounted for and all the have have complete octets. Now for the phosphate ion, PO3−4 .