[prabstar123]

im doing ocr b salters as level chemistry and have been set work to do on oxidation and reduction..in the chemical ideas book chapter 9.1 and i really need some help to answer the questions as i dont understand how to do them!...especially oxidation states if someone could explain to me how to work out oxidation states i will be really greatful
P x

[daniel_williams]

Originally Posted by prabstar123

im doing ocr b salters as level chemistry and have been set work to do on oxidation and reduction..in the chemical ideas book chapter 9.1 and i really need some help to answer the questions as i dont understand how to do them!...especially oxidation states if someone could explain to me how to work out oxidation states i will be really greatful
P x

the best thing you can do is put the questions you are struggling on up here and we will try our best to help you through them, whether it be working them out for you or taking you step by step through the question.

though to answer the second part of your question, ther isn't any really easy way to work out oxidation states unless its a molecule and you know the lewis structure. there are other ways in which you can remember but the majority of learning the oxidation states is from memory. (or at least i've never been shown a simple way of remembering them)

[The Referee]

Oxidation states are worked out by knowing the properties of the groups in the periodic table, e.g.

Gp 1 = +1 (lithium, sodium etc)
Gp2 = +2 (calcium, magnesium etc)

Some substances can have multiple oxidation states eg transition metals.

Learn the valance shell occupancies (or better still how to work them out!) and remember that the 'holy grail' is for each atom within a molecule to have a full outer shell of electrons.

(look up the 8 electron rule!)