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Physical Chemistry

Help me in finding the oxidation number of Fe in Fe3O4

Profile image of Ramiz Khan
17 Years agoGrade
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1 Answer

Profile image of askIITIians  Expert
17 Years ago

Solution:

In Fe3O4 , each O has o.n = -2 and therefore we have:

4(-2) + 3 (o.n. of Fe ) = 0 or the o.n. of Fe = 8/3

Actually Fe3O4. known as magnetic oxide of iron is a stoichiometric mixture of ferrous (FeO) and ferric  (Fe3O4 ) oxides and the value 8/3 for the oxidation number is the average of all the Fe atoms in the molecule.