What is the C oxidation state, the O oxidation state, and the H oxidation state?

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1 Answer
Apr 18, 2018

The oxidation state of each #"H"# atom is #+1#, and the oxidation state of each carbon atom is #-3#.

Explanation:

There is no oxygen in the given molecule.

This is a covalent compound, so we have to look at electronegativities. Electronegativity #(chi)# of an element is is a chemical property that describes the tendency of an atom to attract a shared pair of electrons (or electron density) towards itself. The element with the greatest electronegativity will have a negative oxidation number, and the element with the lowest electronegativity will have a positive oxidation number.

#chi_"H"=2.20#, and #chi_"C"=2.55#.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronegativity

Therefore, the hydrogen atoms each have an oxidation number of #+1#, for a total of #+6#. The two carbon atoms must have a combined oxidation number of #-6#, which means that each carbon atom has an oxidation number of #-3#.