What are oxidation states?
Oxidation number of an element may be defined as the charge which an atom of the element has in its ion or appear to have when present in the combined state with other atoms.Oxidation numbers are also called oxidation states. For example- 1.Calculate oxidation number or oxidation states of S in H2S. Solution-Let oxidation number of S in H2S be x Oxidation number of H =+1 Therefore Oxidation number of H2= 2*(+1)=2 Sum of oxidation numbers of various atoms in H2S=2+x But the sum of the oxidation numbers of various atoms in H2S=0 Because H2S is neutral Therefore 2+x=0 x= -2 Thus, oxidation number of S in H2S is -2.
