Oxidation number

[MichaelRaad_1F]

Is there any way to easily determine the oxidation number of a bonded element?

[Halle Villalobos 3E]

Hi! I found this webpage that might help: https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Book%3A_Chemistry_for_Allied_Health_(Soult)/11%3A_Properties_of_Reactions/11.01%3A_Oxidation_Numbers
It does note that there are many elements for which there are no specific rules, but there are a few that might make determining numbers easier for certain scenarios. I hope this helps!

[Bailey Giovanoli 1L]

I watched a video on youtube, which basically stated that there are certain atoms where the oxidation number is pretty much always the same. In oxygen's case, it is -2. From there, the video said that the oxidation number of the whole molecule should be equivalent to adding the oxidation numbers of the individual atoms. For example, on one of the sapling problems it asked for the oxidation number of Cl in ClO4, -1, and all you knew was that the overall oxidation number of the molecule was -1. From there, you know the oxidation number of each O atom is -2. Because you have 4 of them, then you'd have -8 for the O altogether. You know that -8 + the oxidation of Cl = -1. Then you'd just solve as though it is a normal equation. You'd get Cl's oxidation number as +7. I, however, am curious as to whether we are going to go over this in lecture, and if we'll be informed of what we need to know.

[Jamie2002]

Here is a helpful chart: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=htt ... AdAAAAABAD

[Hasan Mirza 3F]

Thanks for all the resources! This helped a lot!

[Hazelle Gunawan 3G]

I watched a video on youtube, which basically stated that there are certain atoms where the oxidation number is pretty much always the same. In oxygen's case, it is -2. From there, the video said that the oxidation number of the whole molecule should be equivalent to adding the oxidation numbers of the individual atoms. For example, on one of the sapling problems it asked for the oxidation number of Cl in ClO4, -1, and all you knew was that the overall oxidation number of the molecule was -1. From there, you know the oxidation number of each O atom is -2. Because you have 4 of them, then you'd have -8 for the O altogether. You know that -8 + the oxidation of Cl = -1. Then you'd just solve as though it is a normal equation. You'd get Cl's oxidation number as +7. I, however, am curious as to whether we are going to go over this in lecture, and if we'll be informed of what we need to know.

do you have the link to the video?

[Jade_Tai_2L]

This website provides some practice problems too after some explanations (: hopefully this helps!
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/t ... xnumb.html

[Bailey Giovanoli 1L]

I watched a video on youtube, which basically stated that there are certain atoms where the oxidation number is pretty much always the same. In oxygen's case, it is -2. From there, the video said that the oxidation number of the whole molecule should be equivalent to adding the oxidation numbers of the individual atoms. For example, on one of the sapling problems it asked for the oxidation number of Cl in ClO4, -1, and all you knew was that the overall oxidation number of the molecule was -1. From there, you know the oxidation number of each O atom is -2. Because you have 4 of them, then you'd have -8 for the O altogether. You know that -8 + the oxidation of Cl = -1. Then you'd just solve as though it is a normal equation. You'd get Cl's oxidation number as +7. I, however, am curious as to whether we are going to go over this in lecture, and if we'll be informed of what we need to know.

do you have the link to the video?

Here's the link to the video I used. Its fairly short!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXr0nepnsIU