Ranking in order of increasing reducing power

[Kassidy Tran 1E]

How do you rank an element in order from increasing reducing power going from their neutral state to second oxidation state? For example, for the elements Pt, Pb, Cu.

[Timothy_Yueh_4L]

You would rank them according to decreasing standard reduction potential (+ --> -). This is because the lower the reduction potential, the stronger the oxidation potential therefore when finding the element with the strongest reducing power we want the element with the highest reduction potential which is best at driving the reduction half reaction.

[Edward Xie 2E]

For increasing reducing power, you would list them in order of decreasing reduction potential.

Pt (E^o = 1.20 V) < Cu (E^o = 0.34 V) < Pb (E^o = -0.13 V)

[Abby-Hile-1F]

How do you tell if something will have reducing or oxidizing power, I know it depends on the sign of E, but which is which?

[Joonsoo Kim 4L]

I believe that if E(red) is strongly positive, the reaction favors reduction, so it would be a good oxidizing agent. Contrarily, if E(red) is strongly negative, the reaction favors oxidation, so it would be a good reducing agent.

[Abby-Hile-1F]

I believe that if E(red) is strongly positive, the reaction favors reduction, so it would be a good oxidizing agent. Contrarily, if E(red) is strongly negative, the reaction favors oxidation, so it would be a good reducing agent.

Ok yeah that makes sense, thank you!

[Nghi Nguyen 2L]

decreasing reduction potential, which means increasing oxidation reaction, which means increasing reducing power