what is the oxidation number of S in H2SO4? Thank you!

Question

anonymous · Answer

You'll want to double-check my answer, but I believe you'd just treat it like plain old S if that's all you're looking at, so same as oxygen, you'd have a vacancy for ___ electrons in the valence shell.

That said, sulfate (SO4)should be treated as one item in sulfuric acid, and the sulfate anion has an oxidation of 2+.

anonymous · Answer

2-

anonymous · Answer

Sorry that should be SO4 2-.

vincent-lyon.fr · Answer

Same as in $SO_4^{2-}$ and in $SO_3$

Can you now guess which it is?

anonymous · Answer

i worked it out and got -6. 
H---> +2
S---> -6
O---> -8
According to the rule, the overall charge must be 0. Thats what i got...

vincent-lyon.fr · Answer

Almost there!

You made a slight mistake:
+2-6-8 is not zero, but
+2+6-8 = 0

so the right answer is +6 for S in H2SO4

anonymous · Answer

oh...right its suppose to be +6...ok now i understand...thanks!

anonymous · Answer

Sulfate $$SO _{4}$$ Overall Charge of 2-
Oxygen always has a charge of -2
Charge of sulfate + Charge of Oxygen =-2
Charge Sulfate-8=-2
Charge of Sulfate=+6