oxidation vs reduction
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oxidation vs reduction
How can you tell if a compound is going through oxidation vs when it is undergoing reduction?
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Oxidation is when a reactant loses electrons during the reaction whereas reduction occurs when it gains electrons during the reaction.
Re: oxidation vs reduction
In addition, you can tell by looking at the reaction and observing the oxidation numbers of reactants and products. If the oxidation number increases, the reactant was oxidated, and if the oxidation number decreases, the reactant was reduced
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Leo goes Ger [censored]
Losing electrons = oxidation
Gaining electrons= reduction
Losing electrons = oxidation
Gaining electrons= reduction
Re: oxidation vs reduction
Veronica Lu 2H wrote:Leo goes Ger [censored]
Losing electrons = oxidation
Gaining electrons= reduction
Similarly, OIL RIG helps me:
Oxidation is Loss
Reduction is Gain
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
LEO the lion goes GER. LEO: lose electrons oxidation GER: gain electrons reduction.
The idea is that when an element's oxidation number (number of electrons) goes down, it's reduced. So gaining electrons will reduce the oxidation number.
The idea is that when an element's oxidation number (number of electrons) goes down, it's reduced. So gaining electrons will reduce the oxidation number.
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Personally, I've always just memorized it as reduction being a reduction in the charge. So if the charge is reduced, then that has to mean an electron is gained.
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Frank He 4G wrote:Personally, I've always just memorized it as reduction being a reduction in the charge. So if the charge is reduced, then that has to mean an electron is gained.
But does this always work? for example in molecules in which the net charge stays the same, but the number of electrons in each atom is different, or would that still work because the individual charges of the atoms is changing?
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
You can think about reduction as a reduction of positive charge. (gain of electrons)
Oxidation would be adding positive charge. (losing electrons)
Oxidation would be adding positive charge. (losing electrons)
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Natalie Benitez 1E wrote:How do you determine an elements oxidation number ?
There's a few general rules for this:
For any element, oxidation number is 0. (ex: He, O2)
Oxygen is usually 2-
Hydrogen is usually 1+
All charges must add up to the overall charge of the molecule (ex: for the MnO4- ion, the oxidation number for Oxygen is 2- and since there are four of them, the charge for the oxygens is -8. To make an overall charge of -1, Mn must have an oxidation number of 7+).
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Natalie Benitez 1E wrote:How do you determine an elements oxidation number ?
I think its just the number of electrons that were lost or gained during a reaction, so you would basically just count them. If you look back at when we studied transition metals in 14A we also learned about this there. You have to count the number of electrons based on the other atoms and the charge of the overall molecule, for example in K2CrO K has a +1 charge, but there are two of them so it would be +2, and O has a charge of -2 so it's total would be -8. The molecule is neutral so to find the oxidation number of Cr you would do 2 + Cr - 8 = 0 so Cr has an oxidation number of +6.
Re: oxidation vs reduction
if the compound is oxidized, it will lose electrons. And if it is reduced, it will gain electrons. You can determine which process the compound undergoes by looking at its change in charge.
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Oxidation is when the reactant will lose an (or more than one) electron. Reduction reactants will gain electrons during the reaction. LEO GRR is really helpful for me.
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
In oxidation, an atom loses electrons while in reduction electrons are gained (OILRIG). Specifically in situations where the electrons are in compounds, the best way to be able to tell if some atom has been oxidized or reduced is by figuring out how many electrons each atom in a compound has throughout the chemical reaction and seeing from there if electrons are gained or lost.
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
When a compound looses electrons, it undergoes oxidation, and when it gains electrons, it undergoes reduction. You can tell this by looking at the chemical equation and tracking the electron changes
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
By definition, oxidation is when there is a loss of electrons (oxidation increases) and reduction is when there is a gain of electrons (oxidation decreases)
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
reduction occurs when there is a gain of electrons during the reaction. Oxidation is when there's a loss of electrons during the reaction
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Oxidation occurs when a molecule loses an electron. Reduction occurs when it gains an electron.
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Re: oxidation vs reduction
Maia_Jackson_2C wrote:Frank He 4G wrote:Personally, I've always just memorized it as reduction being a reduction in the charge. So if the charge is reduced, then that has to mean an electron is gained.
But does this always work? for example in molecules in which the net charge stays the same, but the number of electrons in each atom is different, or would that still work because the individual charges of the atoms is changing?
Sorry for the late reply. It should work if you're looking at just a single atom in a molecule and not the molecule as a whole. For instance, in MnO2, we know that each O has a charge of -2, and each Mn has a charge of +4 that balances out. If that becomes involved in a redox reaction where we get a product of Mn2+, then the charge was reduced, meaning Mn was reduced.
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