distinguishing oxides

[Katherine Wu 1H]

State whether the following oxides are acidic, basic, amphoteric: (a) BaO; (b) SO3; (c) As2O; (d) Bi2O3.
I'm not sure how to distinguish between the three?

[Mashkinadze_1D]

The first oxide is going to be basic because it contains a group two metalic oxide. The second is going to be acidic because S is a nonmetal and therefore this forms an acidic oxide. The next two are both amphoretic because they are located near the staircase on the periodic table and can act as both an acid or base.

[Caitlyn Tran 2E]

A good way to approach these problems is to use periodic table trends. Metals tend to be found on the left side of the periodic table (group 1 and 2), and metal oxides tend to react with water to form strong bases. Nonmetals tend to be found on the right side of the periodic table, and nonmetal oxides react with water to form acids. Amphoteric oxides closely match the diagonal band of metalloids on the periodic table, but it might be a better idea to just memorize what elements are included in amphoteric compounds like Aluminum. Hope this helps!