Some Essential Redox Terminology

Chemists use some important terminology to describe the movement of electrons in oxidation-reduction reactions. Oxidation is the loss of electrons, and reduction is the gain of electrons. (The original meaning of reduction comes from the process of reducing large amounts of metal ore to smaller amounts of metal, but you ll see shortly why we use the term reduction for the act of gaining.) 

Using Oxidation Numbers to Monitor the Movement of Electron Charge 

The sum of O.N. values for the atoms in a molecule or formula unit of a compound equals zero. The sum of O.N. values for the atoms in a polyatomic ion equals the ion s charge. 

Rules for Specific Atoms or Periodic Table Groups 

= — 1 in combination with metals, nonmetals (except O), and other halogens lower in the group 

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The Key Event Net Movement of Electrons Between Reactants 132 Some Essential Redox Terminology 133... 

Redox reactions are the third and, perhaps, most important type of chemical process. They include the formation of a compound from its elements (and vice versa), all combustion reactions, the reactions that generate electricity in batteries, the reactions that produce cellular energy, and many others. In this section, we examine the process and introduce some essential terminology. 

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