Question

What do we call the process when oxygen gas reacts with a SINGLE electron?

Answer 1

The process is clearly an example of reduction.

Explanation:

`O_2(g) + e^(-) rarr O_2^(-)`

Dioxygen has gained or accepted an electron; therefore, by definition it has been REDUCED. If you draw out the Lewis structure of this `O_2^(-)` species, one of the oxygen atoms is a neutral radical, and the other is formally anionic.