Oxidation number of P in H2PO2?

Question

19903 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-02-22T11:30:55

+2

Oxidation number of hydrogen #=+1#

Oxidation number of oxygen #= -2#

Let oxidation number of phosphorous be a.

The sum of oxidation numbers of all the atoms in a compound is 0.

Thus ,

# 2(+1) + a + 2(-2) = 0#

# 2 + a - 4 = 0#

# a - 2 = 0#

# a = +2#

So , oxidation number of P in #H_2PO_2# is #+2#.