CHEM 230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Electroplating, Ion, Tetrafluoromethane
Document Summary
Oxidation numbers (or states) help us track the movement of electrons. Looking at the reaction above, they exchange electrons to form the salt. The metal goes from 0 to a +3 so it lost 3 electrons. Cl starts with 0 as well but gains an electron per cl atom so it has a -1 charge. Cf4 f is always negative -(cid:883) and since there"s (cid:886) of them, it is -4 and carbon thus. Both the inorganic and organic method give us the same answers. Organic method requires a lewis structure and you have to find formal charges. Take each bond and split it between the atoms. More electronegative atom gets the electrons has to be +4; get a net charge of 0. Nh4+ h is +1 because it is paired with a non-metal so it is +4, the nitrogen has to be a -3 so that the final charge is a +1.
