Oxidation number

[505934309]

Can someone walk me through how to find oxidation number?

[Steven Tjandra 1B]

Hello!

So when we're given the formula for a compound, we are given the charge for the overall compound, which is basically an aggregate of the charges of the individual atoms in said compound. So let's say we're try to find the oxidation number of Sulfur in sulphuric acid H2SO4. We know that since hydrogen wants to lose an electron, it'll be +1. Oxygens tend to gain two electrons so each will be -2. So two hydrogens is +2 and 4 Oxygens would be -8. Adding them together would be -6. So since we know that the total charge is 0, that means Sulfur has to be an oxidation number of +6 to balance out the charge.

Rusty,
Steven Tjandra