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EDUCATION SCIENCE CHEMISTRY REDOX REACTIONS: OXIDATION AND REDUCTION

REDOX REACTIONS: OXIDATION AND

REDUCTION
Redox reactions reactions in which theres a simultaneous transfer of electrons from one
chemical species to another are really composed of two dierent reactions: oxidation (a loss of
electrons) and reduction (a gain of electrons).

The electrons that are lost in the oxidation reaction are the same electrons that are gained
in the reduction reaction. These two reactions are commonly called half-reactions; the
overall reaction is called a redox (reduction/oxidation) reaction.

OXIDATION
There are three denitions you can use for oxidation:

The loss of electrons

The gain of oxygen

The loss of hydrogen

LOSS OF ELECTRONS
One way to dene oxidation is with the reaction in which a chemical substance loses electrons in
going from reactant to product. For example, when sodium metal reacts with chlorine gas to
form sodium chloride (NaCl), the sodium metal loses an electron, which is then gained by
chlorine.

The following equation shows sodium losing the electron:

When it loses the electron, chemists say that the sodium metal has been oxidized to the sodium
cation. (A cation is an ion with a positive charge due to the loss of electrons.)

Reactions of this type are quite common in electrochemical reactions, reactions that produce
or use electricity.

GAIN OF OXYGEN
Sometimes, in certain oxidation reactions, its obvious that oxygen has been gained in going from
reactant to product. Reactions where the gain of oxygen is more obvious than the gain of
electrons include combustion reactions (burning) and the rusting of iron. Here are two examples.

Burning of coal:

Rusting of iron:

In these cases, chemists say that the carbon and the iron metal have been oxidized to carbon
dioxide and rust, respectively.

LOSS OF HYDROGEN
In other reactions, oxidation can best be seen as the loss of hydrogen. Methyl alcohol (wood
alcohol) can be oxidized to formaldehyde:

In going from methanol to formaldehyde, the compound went from having four hydrogen atoms
to having two hydrogen atoms.

REDUCTION
Like oxidation, there are three denitions you can use to describe reduction:

The gain of electrons

The loss of oxygen

The gain of hydrogen

GAIN OF ELECTRONS
Reduction is often seen as the gain of electrons. In the process of electroplating silver onto a
teapot, for example, the silver cation is reduced to silver metal by the gain of an electron. The
following equation shows the silver cation gaining the electron:

When it gains the electron, chemists say that the silver cation has been reduced to silver metal.

LOSS OF OXYGEN
In other reactions, its easier to see reduction as the loss of oxygen in going from reactant to
product. For example, iron ore (primarily rust) is reduced to iron metal in a blast furnace by a
reaction with carbon monoxide:

The iron has lost oxygen, so chemists say that the iron ion has been reduced to iron metal.

GAIN OF HYDROGEN
In certain cases, a reduction can also be described as the gain of hydrogen atoms in going from
reactant to product. For example, carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas can be reduced to methyl
alcohol:
In this reduction process, the CO has gained the hydrogen atoms.

ONES LOSS IS THE OTHERS GAIN

Neither oxidation nor reduction can take place without the other. When those electrons are lost,
something has to gain them.

Consider, for example, the net-ionic equation (the equation showing just the chemical substances
that are changed during a reaction) for a reaction with zinc metal and an aqueous copper(II)
sulfate solution:

This overall reaction is really composed of two half-reactions, shown below.

Oxidation half-reaction the loss of electrons:

Reduction half-reaction the gain of electrons:

Zinc loses two electrons; the copper(II) cation gains those same two electrons. Zn is being
oxidized. But without that copper cation (the oxidizing agent) present, nothing will happen. Its a
necessary agent for the oxidation process to proceed. The oxidizing agent accepts the electrons
from the chemical species that is being oxidized.

The copper(II) cation is reduced as it gains electrons. The species that furnishes the electrons is
called the reducing agent. In this case, the reducing agent is zinc metal.
 The oxidizing agent is the species thats being reduced, and the reducing agent is the
species thats being oxidized. Both the oxidizing and reducing agents are on the left
(reactant) side of the redox equation.

! EDUCATION SCIENCE CHEMISTRY DRAWING LEWIS DOT STRUCTURES FOR CHEMISTRY

DRAWING LEWIS DOT STRUCTURES FOR

CHEMISTRY
RELATED BOOK

Chemistry Workbook For Dummies, 2nd Edition

By Peter J. Mikulecky, Chris Hren

Part of Chemistry Workbook For Dummies Cheat Sheet

In chemistry, drawing Lewis dot structures can be challenging, but they provide a wealth of
information about the molecules they represent. Remember that Lewis dot structures are drawn
for covalent (molecular) compounds that share electrons. Follow these simple steps to correctly
draw a Lewis dot structure:

1 Add up the total number of valence electrons found in the entire compound.
Dont forget to include any positive or negative charges when determining this.

2 Draw the simple structure (skeleton structure) of the compound by connecting

everything with single bonds only.

3 Add electrons to all the noncentral atoms.

Note that most atoms want eight total electrons, so atoms that have only one bond will
each need to receive six electrons. However, hydrogen wants only two electrons; each
bond counts as two shared electrons, so dont add any electrons to hydrogen.

4 Put any unused electrons on the central atom.

If all atoms (except hydrogen) now have eight electrons, youre done.

5 If one or more atoms do not have eight electrons, you must form double or triple
bonds between them.
Keep in mind that each bond counts for two shared electrons.

6 If all atoms now have eight electrons around them, youre done. If you have valence
electrons left over, add them to the central atom, even if it violates the octet rule.
! EDUCATION SCIENCE CHEMISTRY
HOW TO CALCULATE ENDOTHERMIC AND EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS

HOW TO CALCULATE ENDOTHERMIC AND

EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS
RELATED BOOK

Chemistry Workbook For Dummies, 2nd Edition

By Peter J. Mikulecky, Chris Hren

By calculating the enthalpy change in a chemical reaction, you can determine whether the
reaction is endothermic or exothermic. Chemical reactions transform both matter and energy.
Though chemical equations usually list only the matter components of a reaction, you can also
consider heat energy as a reactant or product. When chemists are interested in heat ow during
a reaction (and when the reaction is run at constant pressure), they may list an enthalpy change
to the right of the reaction equation. At constant pressure, heat ow equals enthalpy change:

If the enthalpy change listed for a reaction is negative, then that reaction releases heat as it
proceeds the reaction is exothermic (exo- = out). If the enthalpy change listed for the reaction is
positive, then that reaction absorbs heat as it proceeds the reaction is endothermic (endo- = in).
In other words, exothermic reactions release heat as a product, and endothermic reactions
consume heat as a reactant.

The sign of the

tells you the direction of heat ow, but what about the magnitude? The coecients of a chemical
reaction represent molar equivalents, so the value listed for the

refers to the enthalpy change for one mole equivalent of the reaction. Heres an example:

This reaction equation describes the combustion of methane, a reaction you might expect to
release heat. The enthalpy change listed for the reaction conrms this expectation: For each
mole of methane that combusts, 802 kJ of heat is released. The reaction is highly exothermic.
Based on the stoichiometry of the equation, you can also say that 802 kJ of heat is released for
every 2 mol of water produced.
So reaction enthalpy changes (or reaction heats) are a useful way to measure or predict
chemical change. But theyre just as useful in dealing with physical changes, like freezing and
melting, evaporating and condensing, and others. For example, water (like most substances)
absorbs heat as it melts (or fuses) and as it evaporates. Here are the molar enthalpies for such
changes:

Molar enthalpy of fusion:

Molar enthalpy of vaporization:

The same sorts of rules apply to enthalpy changes listed for chemical changes and physical
changes. Heres a summary of the rules that apply to both:

The heat absorbed or released by a process is proportional to the moles of

substance that undergo that process. For example, 2 mol of combusting methane release
twice as much heat as 1 mol of combusting methane.

Running a process in reverse produces heat ow of the same magnitude but of

opposite sign as running the forward process. For example, freezing 1 mol of water
releases the same amount of heat that is absorbed when 1 mol of water melts.

Try an example: here is a balanced chemical equation for the oxidation of hydrogen gas to form
liquid water, along with the corresponding enthalpy change:

How much electrical energy must be expended to perform electrolysis of 3.76 mol of liquid water,
converting that water into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas?

First, recognize that the given enthalpy change is for the reverse of the electrolysis reaction, so
you must reverse its sign from 572 kJ to 572 kJ. Second, recall that heats of reaction are
proportional to the amount of substance reacting (2 mol of H2O in this case), so the calculation is
! EDUCATION SCIENCE CHEMISTRY
HOW TO CALCULATE THE EMPIRICAL FORMULA OF A COMPOUND

HOW TO CALCULATE THE EMPIRICAL

FORMULA OF A COMPOUND
RELATED BOOK

Chemistry Workbook For Dummies, 2nd Edition

By Peter J. Mikulecky, Chris Hren

If you dont know the empirical formula of a compound, you can analyze samples of the unknown
compound to identify the percent composition. From there, you calculate the ratios of dierent
types of atoms in the compound. You express these ratios as the empirical formula.

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An empirical formula represents the lowest whole-number ratio of elements in a

compound.

Heres how to nd an empirical formula when given percent composition:

1 Assume that you have 100 g of the unknown compound.

The beauty of this little trick is that you conveniently gift yourself with the same number of
grams of each elemental component as its contribution to the percent composition. For
example, if you assume that you have 100 g of a compound composed of 60.3%
magnesium and 39.7% oxygen, you know that you have 60.3 g of magnesium and 39.7 g
of oxygen. (The only time you dont do this is if the problem specically gives you the
masses of each element present in the unknown compound.)

2 Convert the masses from Step 1 into moles using the molar mass.

3 Determine which element has the smallest mole value. Then divide all the mole values
you calculated in Step 2 by this smallest value.
This division yields the mole ratios of the elements of the compound.

4 If any of your mole ratios arent whole numbers, multiply all numbers by the smallest
possible factor that produces whole-number mole ratios for all the elements.
For example, if you have 1 nitrogen atom for every 0.5 oxygen atoms in a compound, the
empirical formula is not N1O0.5. Such a formula casually suggests that an oxygen atom
has been split, something that would create a small-scale nuclear explosion. Though
 impressive sounding, this scenario is almost certainly false. Far more likely is that the
atoms of nitrogen and oxygen are combining in a 1 : 0.5 ratio but do so in a larger but
equivalent ratio of 2 : 1. The empirical formula is thus N2O.
Because the original percent composition data is typically experimental, expect to see a
bit of error in the numbers. For example, 2.03 is probably within experimental error of 2,
2.99 is probably 3, and so on.

5 Write the empirical formula by attaching these whole-number mole ratios as

subscripts to the chemical symbol of each element.
Order the elements according to the general rules for naming ionic and molecular
compounds.

Heres an example: What is the empirical formula of a substance that is 40.0% carbon, 6.7%
hydrogen, and 53.3% oxygen by mass?

For the sake of simplicity, assume that you have a total of 100 g of this mystery compound.
Therefore, you have 40.0 g of carbon, 6.7 g of hydrogen, and 53.3 g of oxygen. Convert each of
these masses to moles by using the gram atomic masses of C, H, and O:
Notice that the carbon and oxygen mole numbers are the same, so you know the ratio of these
two elements is 1:1 within the compound. Next, divide all the mole numbers by the smallest
among them, which is 3.33. This division yields

The compound has the empirical formula CH2O. The actual number of atoms within each particle
of the compound is some multiple of the numbers expressed in this formula.