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Topic: Quantifying Oxidisation  (Read 3703 times)

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Offline Smelborpt

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Quantifying Oxidisation
« on: July 22, 2018, 06:30:39 AM »
Hello. I'm new to this forum so please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong. I have to write a chemistry report on oxidisation and reduction. I'm currently thinking of how to experimentally quantify the oxidisation. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Offline Borek

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Re: Quantifying Oxidisation
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2018, 03:20:40 PM »
Oxidation is a process. You can't quantify it, just like you can't quantify "falling down" or "thinking". You need to choose a variable that can be measured and start from there.
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Offline MathGeek

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Re: Quantifying Oxidisation
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2018, 08:23:17 AM »
Hello. I'm new to this forum so please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong. I have to write a chemistry report on oxidisation and reduction. I'm currently thinking of how to experimentally quantify the oxidisation. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

As mentioned, you need to pick a reasonable dependent variable as an indicator of oxidation.  Lavoisier's early experiments demonstrate some of the easier choices, as all of the products are in solid form, and the change of mass from the original can be used to quantify the addition of oxygen.  The process can be reversed to liberate the oxygen in a reduction reaction.

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/lavoisier.html#combustion-and-phlogiston

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2001/hossain/combustion.htm

Offline Babcock_Hall

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Re: Quantifying Oxidisation
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2018, 08:50:54 AM »
"Quantifying oxidation" is ambiguous.  One can use oxidation numbers to gauge the oxidation state of an atom, and that might be considered a type of quantification.  Or one might be referring to the completeness of an oxidation reaction...

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