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Find the oxidation number of carbon in the following compounds: CH 3 OH, CH 2 O , HCOOH , C 2 H 2 .

Find the oxidation number of carbon in the following compounds:


CH3OH, CH2O , HCOOH , C2H2.

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1 Answers

askIITIians Expert
21 Points
14 years ago

Solution:

In all these compounds H has oxidation number +1 and O has oxidation number -2. Using rule 3 (d) the values of o.n of carbon in each of the above compounds can be determined using the following general method.

If the number of hydrogen atoms in the compounds is nH, the number of oxygen atom is nO and the number of carbon atoms is nC then we have:

nH(1) + nO (-2) + nC (o.n. of carbon) = 0

or o.n. of carbon in the compound = (nO (2) - nH (1) /nC

The results for different compounds are given in table below:

Compound

nH

nO

nC

o.n. of C = (no x2 – nH )/nC

CH4

4

0

1

-4

CH3OH

4

1

1

-2

CH2O

2

1

1

 0

HCOOH

2

2

1

+2

C2H4

4

0

2

-2

C2H2

2

0

2

-1

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