Question

Sodium sulfate reacts with carbon to produce the products sodium sulfide and carbon monoxide. Identify the reducing agent in the following reaction.

Na2SO4 + 4C Na2S + 4CO

C

Na2SO4

CO

Na2S

Answer 1

@Abhisar ?

Answer 2

HIII

Answer 3

What is reducing agent ?

Answer 4

Hello !

Answer 5

a reducing agent loses electrons

Answer 6

and it is oxidized

Answer 7

yes that's correct !
Now which one do u think is oxidized after the reaction ?

Answer 8

okay that is my problem :'(
I am stuck between Na2SO4 and Na2S because those are the ones involved in the reduction

Answer 9

Do u know how to write oxidation numbers ?

Answer 10

uh well sort of... but I will go with no

Answer 11

Do u hav to learn it in ur course ?

Answer 12

nah it is a pre test that does even count but i wanna learn now :)

Answer 13

♦ The oxidation state of an uncombined element is zero. ...
♦ The sum of the oxidation states of all the atoms or ions in a neutral compound is zero.
♦ The sum of the oxidation states of all the atoms in an ion is equal to the charge on the ion.

Answer 14

oh so do i have to find that for each element ?

Answer 15

yes, find for each one and see which one is reduced

Answer 16

I'll workout an example for you

Answer 17

Let's calculate for C in the reactant side and product side

Answer 18

kk but i was working the problem out I think i got it but i wanna hear your ex first :p

Answer 19

um okay so how do i do that ?

Answer 20

in reactant hand side carbon is C, so its oxidation number by rule 1 will be 0. Got it ?

Answer 21

yes

Answer 22

In the product hand side it's in the form of CO.
Now oxidation state of O is always (almost, except in the case of OF) equal to -2. So if that of C is xthen,
X-2=0 [because CO is neutral,Rule 2]
x=+2

Answer 23

So we can see that carbon was 0 before reaction and became +2 after reaction. This means it is oxidized

Answer 24

Getting it ?

Answer 25

yes i think so

Answer 26

I know u didn't get it ;p

Answer 27

:) just i little bit

Answer 28

btw reducing agent is carbon. All u need to know is how to calculate oxidation state.

Answer 29

u have the link to my web page ?

Answer 30

no

Answer 31

http://openstudyab.comoj.com/search.html

Answer 32

Go to this one and you will find a link to @Somy 's oxidation state tutorial.

Answer 33

yup i got it, i'll take a good look at it! Thank you for your time and help! :D

Answer 34

\(\color{red}{\huge\bigstar}\huge\text{You're Most Welcome! }\color{red}\bigstar\)
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Answer 35

can i let you know what i think the answer is after l learned ?

Answer 36

sure :)