Reducing/Oxidizing Agents

[Bryce Barbee]

Can someone explain the concept behind reducing and oxidizing agents. How do you determine which is which?

[Shannon Asay 1C]

A reducing agent oxidizes something and an oxidizing agent reduces something else.

[rabiasumar2E]

Whatever is being oxidized is the reducing agent and whatever is being reduced is the oxidizing agent.

[Sukanya Mohapatra 2G]

An oxidizing agent, or oxidant, gains electrons and is reduced in a chemical reaction. A reducing agent, or reductant, loses electrons and is oxidized in a chemical reaction.

[205405339]

the molecule that contains the element being oxidized is the reducing agent and the molecule that contains the element being reduced is the oxidizing agent

[Minh Ngo 4G]

It's vice versa with the ones being oxidized/ reduced. The oxidized one is the reducing agent (think about it, if let's say H is being oxidized, it can go around oxidizing anyone else, thus, someone has to oxidize it, thus it is a reducing agent)

[Sartaj Bal 1J]

The way I think of it is as opposites. If something is being reduced (gaining an electron), that means it is taking an electron away from something, therefore making it an oxidizing agent.

[SimranSangha4I]

It can be confusing at time but the best way to look at it would be associating it with the opposites of the term. So the element being oxidized is the reducing agent.

[HuyHa_2H]

It tripped me up trying to comprehend this but I kind of think of them as opposites. So, the oxidizing agents are reduced and the reducing agents are oxidized.

[Hannah Pham]

Oxidizing agents are the ones that oxidize, so the remove electrons, while reducing agents are the ones doing the reducing, so they provide the electrons.

[Asha Agarwal 1E]

The reducing agent is the species being oxidized as it reduces the other species by transferring its own electrons to something else, therefore reducing it. The oxidizing agent is very similar in terms of logic but it is the opposite.

[Rida Ismail 2E]

The reducing agent is what oxidizes
the oxidizing agent is what reduces

[Jasmine W 1K]

I think of it in terms of opposites, so whatever is being oxidized acts as the reducing agent and whatever is being reduced acts as the oxidizing agent.

[Nuoya Jiang]

A reducing agent is a reactant that gives electrons (increase its oxidation number) during the reaction, while an oxidizing agent is the reactant which gains electrons during the reaction.