CHEM102 Lecture Notes - Standard Electrode Potential, Standard Hydrogen Electrode, Oxidizing Agent

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM102
• Professor: Sai Yiu

Document Summary

Students are expected to be familiar with the concept of oxidation and reduction in section 1 of this set of lecture notes. They will only be briefly mentioned in class time. Redox reaction is an electron transfer process which occurs simultaneously. Oxidation involves electron loss and in the process, a reducing agent is oxidized. Reduction involves electron gain and in the process, an oxidizing agent is. The concept of electron transfer as redox reactions can only be applied to ionic compounds. However, many reactions are regarded as redox processes in spite of the fact that they involve only molecules and do not involve tranfer of electrons. The idea of assigning oxidation states (oxidation numbers) is another alternative definition for redox processes. The oxidation number is arbitrary assigned for convenience. It should not be related to the concept of bonding or the structure of the molecule. +1: the oxidation number of oxygen in all compounds, except peroxides, is -2.