Chemistry / Unit 3 Chem 0453 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Oxidation Numbers
Captions available
The idea
An oxidation number is an assigned charge tracking how electrons are distributed among an atom's bonds, ionic or not.
In practice
In water, H2O, oxygen is assigned −2 and each hydrogen +1, values that sum to zero for the neutral molecule.
Where people slip
An oxidation number is an accounting convention, not necessarily an atom's real, measured charge in a covalent molecule.
Your place on the trail
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