Reducing/oxidizing agent

[Johnathan Smith 1D]

How do we know what species is the reducing agent and what species is the oxidizing agent?

[Jessica Booth 2F]

The reducing agent ends up becoming oxidized because it donates its electron to reduce another species. The oxidizing agent becomes reduced because it gains an electron from another species that becomes oxidized.

[Gerald Bernal1I]

The reducing agent is the substance being oxidized since it is reducing the reduction reaction. The oxidizing agent is the substance undergoing reduction since its reduction or gain of electrons is causing the loss of the oxidation.

[504939134]

The reducing agent will be the agent that pretty much causes another substance to reduce so in other words the agent that donates electrons, and the oxidizing agent will be the agent that accepts or gains electrons. I remember it as being the opposite from each other.

[Nohemi Garcia 1L]

Since oxidation occurs when an ion loses electrons (ends up having a more positive charge), you have to figure out the charges between the reactants and the products side. Like in Example 6K.1 (page 538), the oxidation half reaction is between C2H2O4 and CO2, because C goes from having a charge of +3 to +4. Since C is part of both molecules and its charge isn't directly given by the equation, we have to calculate the charges based on what we know of the charges of H and O (H is either +1 when bonded to a nonmetal, but -1 when bonded to a metal; O is normally -2). Since the charge of the molecules are the sums of the ions we are able to use algebra to solve for it. Since C2H2O4 is neutral, then 2C+2H+4O=0; 2C+(2*-1)+(4*-2)=0, so C=+3.

For reduction, it's when an ion gains electrons, meaning it will end up with a more negative charge after the reaction. The process for solving for the charges is basically the same as the method I used above, and you can try it with the reduction half reaction on the same example. I hope this helps.

[805422680]

The reducing agent will be the one with the more negative Eo values. the other one will be the oxidizing agent

[preyasikumar_2L]

The reducing agent is the species that does the reducing - the reducing agent will reduce the other species by losing its electrons and giving them to the other species so that the other species gets reduced. Thus the reducing agent itself gets oxidized.
Vice versa is true for oxidizing agents - they are the species that do the oxidizing - the oxidizing agent will oxidize the other species by taking electrons from the other species so that the other species gets oxidized. Thus the oxidizing agent itself gets reduced.

[Jacob Villar 2C]

The reducing agent is oxidized because it gives its electron to another substance, thereby reducing said substance. Thus, through vice versa, the oxidizing agent is reduced by gaining an electron from another substance.

[805394719]

If a species is being oxidized, this means it had lost an electron which has to be donated to another species. Because an electron lost by a species has to be gained by another species. Therefore, a species has to be reduced while the other is being oxidized. The species that is oxidized is the cause of the reduction of another which means that it is a reducing agent as it reduces another species by providing an electron. The same is true for an oxidizing agent which is a substance that is being reduced and thus accepts an electron from another species that is being oxidized. To conclude, the species that is being oxidized is the reducing agent and the species that is being reduced is the oxidizing agent.