Experiment No.

2
OXIDATION –
REDUCTION
REACTIONS
Report by:
Group #2
Tricia Ojon
Katrina Mae Lee
What is redox?
Redox
(shorthand for reduction-
oxidation reaction) describes all
chemical reactions in which
atoms have their oxidation
number/oxidation state changed
Terminology:
The term redox comes from the two
concepts of reduction and oxidation.
Oxidation
describes the loss of electrons/hydrogen, or
gain of oxygen / increase in oxidation state
by a molecule, atom or ion
Reduction
describes the gain of electrons / hydrogen,
or loss of oxygen / decrease in oxidation
state by a molecule, atom or ion
Oxidizing
agents / oxidants / oxidizers
 Substances that have the ability to
oxidize other substances and are said to
be oxidative
 The oxidant removes electrons from
another substance, and is, thus, reduced
itself. And, because it "accepts"
electrons, it is also called an electron
acceptor
 Reducing
agents/reductants/reducer
s Substances that have the
ability to reduce other substances
and are said to be reductive
 The reductant transfers
electrons to another substance,
and is, thus, oxidized itself. And,
because it "donates" electrons it
is also called an electron donor
Redox pair
 The pair of an oxidizing and
reducing agent that are
involved in a particular
reaction
 Oxidation state
 An indicator of the degree of oxidation of an
atom in a chemical compound
 The hypothetical charge that an atom would
have if all bonds to atoms of different
elements were 100% ionic and is used for
purposes such as predicting ratio and
balancing reactions
 Represented by integers, which can be
positive, negative, or zero (0).
Oxidation number
 The charge that a central
atom in a coordination
compound would have if all
the ligands were removed
along with the electron pairs
that were shared with the
central atom
 Represented using Roman
numerals
 OXIDATION OXIDATION
STATE NUMBER
Electrons are Every electron
distributed based belongs to the
on ligand, regardless
electronegativity of
of atoms electronegativity
Written using Written using
Arabic numerals Roman numerals
Ex.: O-2 Ex.: FeIII or
iron(III)
Assigning oxidation states:
 The oxidation state in the free or uncombined or
elemental state such as Fe, H2, O2, is zero (0).
 Fluorine has an oxidation state of −1 in all its
compounds since it is the most electronegative
 Alkali metals (Group I) have an oxidation state of +1
in virtually all of their compounds
 Hydrogen has an oxidation state of +1 except when
bonded to less electronegative elements such as Na,
Al, and B, as in NaH, NaBH4, LiAlH4, where each H
has an oxidation state of -1.
 Alkaline earth metals (Group II) have an oxidation
state of +2 in virtually all of their compounds.
 Halogens, other than fluorine have an
oxidation state of −1 except when they are
bonded to oxygen, nitrogen or with another
halogen
 Oxygen has an oxidation state of −2 except
where it is −1 in peroxides, +2 in oxygen
difluoride, OF2,+1 in O2F2.
 For monoatomic ions, the oxidation number
is the valence of the ion, e.g., +2 for Ca2+
 The sum of the oxidation numbers in a
polyatomic ion is equal to the ion charge
 The sum of the oxidation numbers in a
compound is zero
Balancing Redox reactions:
Assignoxidation states to reactants and
products

K2Cr2O7 + H2SO4 + H2O2 → K2SO4 + Cr2(SO4)3 + O2 + H2O

+1 +6 -2 +1 +6 -2 +1 -1 +1 +6-2 +3 +6-2 0
+1 -2
K2Cr2O7 + H2SO4 + H2O2 → K2SO4 + Cr2(SO4)3 + O2 + H2O
Determine which elements show an
increase or decrease in oxidation state

+1 +6 -2 +1 +6 -2 +1 -1 +1 +6-2 +3 +6-2 0
+1 -2
K2Cr2O7 + H2SO4 + H2O2 → K2SO4 + Cr2(SO4)3 + O2 + H2O
 Determine the total change in oxidation number of
the elements oxidized and reduced and determine
the no. of e- gained/lost per molecule or unit of the
compound

Decrease from +6 to +3 ; Gained 6 e- per molecule

+6 -1 +3 0
K2Cr2O7 + H2SO4 + H2O2 → K2SO4 + Cr2(SO4)3 + O2 + H2O

Increase from -1 to 0 ; Lost 2 e- per molecule

 Balance the number of electrons gained and
lost. The numbers used become the
coefficients.

Gained 6 e- per molecule X 1 = 6 e- gained

+6 -1 +3 0
K2Cr2O7 + H2SO4 + 3H2O2 → K2SO4 + Cr2(SO4)3 + 3O2 +
H2O

Lost 2 e- per molecule X 3 = 6 e- lost

Balance the rest of the equation

K2Cr2O7 + 4H2SO4 + 3H2O2 → K2SO4 + Cr2(SO4)3 + 3O2 +

7H2O
Other way of balancing:
 Separate into two half-reactions: the oxidation
portion and reduction portion.
 Each half-reaction is balanced separately and
then the equations are added together to give
a balanced overall reaction. We want the net
charge and number of ions to be equal on
both sides of the final balanced equation.
 Balance the atoms
 Next, balance the charges in each half-
reaction so that the reduction half-reaction
consumes the same number of electrons as
the oxidation half-reaction supplies.
 Add the two half-reactions
Balancing in Acidic/Basic
Medium:
 Divide the equation into an oxidation half-reaction
and a reduction half-reaction
 Balance these :
 Balance the elements other than H and O
 Balance the O by adding H2O
 Balance the H by adding H+
 Balance the charge by adding e-
 Multiply each half-reaction by an integer such that
the number of e- lost in one part equals the number
gained in the other part
 Combine the half-reactions and cancel the e-
 For Basic:**Add OH- to each side until all H+ is
gone and then cancel again**
 Experimental Results:
In test tube A, the reaction produced
very visible results such as the
change in color of the aqueous
solution from aqua blue (Cu(NO3)2) to
colorless (Mg(NO3)2), and dissolving
(Mg) and formation (Cu) of solid
substances. The oxidizing agent in the
reaction is Cu(NO3)2 while the
reducing agent is Mg
 Cu(NO3)2 + Mg → Mg(NO3)2 + Cu
In test tube B, the color of the
solution changed from yellow
orange to aqua blue. The oxidizing
agent is K2Cr2O7 while the
reducing agent is H2O2.

 K2Cr2O7 + 4H2SO4 + 3H2O2 →

K2SO4 + Cr2(SO4)3 + 3O2 + 7H2O
In test tube C, the color of the
solution changed from reddish
brown to being colorless. The
oxidizing agent in this reaction
is I2 while the reducing agent
is Na2S2O3.

 2Na2S2O3 + I2 → Na2S4O6 +
2NaI
Intest tube D, there were several
changes in the color of the substance
upon addition of the last reagent. There
was a slow change from deep purple to
red, then orange, and lastly to being
colorless. The oxidizing agent in this
reaction is KMnO4 while the reducing
agent is Na2C2O4
 2KMnO4 + 8H2SO4 + 5Na2C2O4 →
2MnSO4 + 10CO2 + 8H2O + 5Na2SO4 +
K2SO4
Visible indications of
redox:
When transitional metal complexes
are involved, a change in color often
occurs
 The d orbital of a transitional metal ion
are split when it is surrounded by
ligands. This is because the ligand outer
electrons repel some of the d electrons
more than the others. This allows an
energy state transition from one d
orbital to another in response to the
absorption of a photon of light
  As the light is absorbed, the solution takes on a
color. Changes of oxidation state therefore change
the color of the light absorbed, and so the color of
the solution visible
 So you can observe the change in oxidation state of
a transition metal in redox reaction by observing the
change in color
 Othervisible indications that a redox reaction
took place are effervescence or the evolution
of gas and the conversion of ions into metal
(evident in the metal precipitate)
Questions and Answers:
 Do all reactions involve redox? Why?
 Not all reactions involve oxidation-reduction
because some do not experience any change in the
oxidation states of the substances. Non-redox
reactions, which do not involve changes in formal
charge, are known as metathesis reactions.
 Why should H2O2 be freshly prepared?
 Hydrogen peroxide or H2O2 needs to be freshly
prepared because it decomposes exothermically
into water and oxygen gas spontaneously. If not
used in the freshly prepared state, it would not be
useful for the characteristic reactions of H2O2.
 Applications/ Importance
 Redox reactions have a large number of practical
applications, including
 the storage and later use of electric power
 the collection of hydrogen and oxygen from water
 the deposition of a thin layer of one metal on top of
another
 an indicator not only of a system's capacity for cycling
waste, but indeed of chemically supporting fish, plant,
and invertebrate life
 oxidation of cyanide wastes and reduction of chromate
waste
 There are both oxidation (e.g. biological
conversion of ammonia to nitrites to nitrates) and
reduction (ridding systems of nitrate aka
denitrification, bio-phosphate PO3) that must
occur readily in a truly closed system to support
(macro-) life
APPENDIX
ELEMENT COMPOUND / COLOR (Aq. OXIDATION STATE
ION Sol’n)
Cu Cu(NO3)2 Aqua blue +2
Cu Brick red 0
Mg Mg(NO3)2 Colorless +2
Mg Silvery white 0
Cr K2Cr2O7 Yellow orange +6

Chromic ion Green +3

I I2 Reddish brown 0

KI Colorless -1
O H2O Colorless -2
H2O2 Colorless -1
S Na2S2O3 Colorless +2
Na2S4O6 Colorless +2.5

Mn KMnO4 Deep purple +7

MnSO4 Colorless +2

MnO2 Brown +4
precipitate

C CO2 Colorless gas +4

Na2C2O4 Colorless +3
END