What is the oxidation number of iron in Fe_2O_3?

1 Answer
Shulgin
Apr 16, 2018

+3

Explanation:

So to find out the oxidation number of iron the iron oxide we start of by finding the oxidation number of oxygen and combine them.
So we know that oxygen has a oxidation number of -2. Since we have 3 oxygens this would give a total of -6.
We know that the charge should be stable (=0), so therefore iron must have a oxidation number of +3 since 2*3=6.

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