OH/H20

[sofiakavanaugh]

When balancing redox reactions, if they dont tell you whether or not it is in acidic or basic solution, can you choose to add OH- or H+ to balance as you please? Or do you always have to assume it will be acidic and use H+ to balance the hydrogens?

[Yixin Angela Wang 2H]

I feel like acidic seems to be the standard, based on the problems I've done. I feel like whether the solution is acidic or basic should be given in the problem or the skeletal equation though.

[McKenna disc 1C]

When balancing redox reactions, if they dont tell you whether or not it is in acidic or basic solution, can you choose to add OH- or H+ to balance as you please? Or do you always have to assume it will be acidic and use H+ to balance the hydrogens?

I don't know if there will ever be a need for assumption here. I think they have to tell you whether or not it's in basic solution or acidic solution in order for you to balance the equation correctly.

[Shanmitha Arun 1L]

The tests should be clear with whether it is acidic or basic.

[Jennifer Ho 1K]

Generally it's assumed to be acidic in most problems unless specified it's in basic solution.