I have another question but about redox http://imgur.com/9TvtKk9
I'm trying to find out which thing is undergoing oxidation. For the first equation, I know that the F arrow is the oxidation equation but I tried finding the oxidation number of 2CuI to make sure I knew that this was undergoing reduction, but I'm stuck. I'm not sure what the oxidation number of I is, so can't solve for the oxidation number of Cu.
The 2nd equation, I'm just unsure how to do this so I kinda guessed. What do I do if theres 2 things that I don't know the oxidation numbers for? Those things being K and Cl that is in KClO?
Think of it like a number line. Whenever you gain electrons, the charge becomes more towards the negatives. When you lose electrons, the charge becomes more towards the positives. In most cases, oxidation numbers are the same as the ionic charge. but NOT always!!!
Oxidation is Loss, Reduction is Gain (OILRIG)
If I have an Oxidation state of +2, and I lose 1 electron, my charge becomes +3 because I have one less negative charge.
If I have an Oxidation state of +1 and I gain 2 electrons, my charge becomes -1 because I have more negative charges.
Essentially you can break these up into half equations and remember ORRL.
Oxidation Right
Reduction Left
These are the sides the electrons go on in the half equations.
not sure if this is helpful to you but yeah.