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#.

Related questions
See all questions in Oxidation Numbers
Impact of this question
10075 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License