Question

What are the oxidation numbers of `SO_2`, `SO_3`, `P_2O_3`, and `P_2O_5`? What is the oxidation number of hydrogen peroxide?

Answer 1

Well, we can assign oxidation numbers........

Explanation:

And for oxides, the oxygen state of the oxygen is necessarily `-II`.. And we assign the oxidation state of the heteroatom on this basis....

`SO_2`, we gots `S(+IV)`;

`SO_3`, we gots `S(+VI)`;

`P_2O_3`, we gots `P(+III)`;

And for `P_2O_5`, we gots `P(+V)`......

Sometimes we consider a `"peroxide"`, i.e. a `O-O` linkage; here the electrons in the (weak) `O-O` bond are assigned to each element (because the oxygens HAVE EQUAL electronegativity) to give say the hydroperoxyl radical:

`H_2O_2rarr2xxdotOH`

When we do this for `OF_2`...we get `2xxF^(-) + O(+II)`

What are the individual oxidation states of the oxygen atoms in the ozone molecule, `O=stackrel(+)O-O^(-)`?