Why is it important to specify the oxidation state of the iron oxide in a specific problem?

1 Answer
Jun 5, 2017

Why not?

Explanation:

All of the given oxides are known; rust chemistry is a very broad church, and #Fe_3O_4# is a mixed oxidation state oxide, i.e. #FeO*Fe_2O_3#, i.e. #stackrel(+II)"Fe/"stackrel(+III)"Fe"#.

Sometimes, when you do a problem, the iron oxide will be specified.