Question #422af

1 Answer
anor277
Feb 23, 2017

The average oxidation number of carbon is #+4/3#.....

Explanation:

Of course, this is a bit of a simplification.

For #O=""^(+II)C=C^(0)=C^(+II)=O#, the internal carbon, has a FORMAL oxidation number of #C^(0)#, the terminal carbons are #C^(+II)# (and hence the average value quoted). Element-element bonds are presumed to share electrons rather than exchange them when we assign oxidation states.

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