{"id":234168,"date":"2025-06-13T19:29:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T19:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=234168"},"modified":"2025-06-13T19:29:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T19:29:04","slug":"find-the-oxidation-number-of-sulfur-in-the-following","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/13\/find-the-oxidation-number-of-sulfur-in-the-following\/","title":{"rendered":"Find the oxidation number of sulfur in the following"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>: a) SO3 6) SO32 (&#8216;&#8221;1 &#8216;&#8221;1 &#8211; c) HSO4 S8<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-459.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-234169\" style=\"width:717px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"b794577f-116b-4ffa-a81c-14825a1a1dbc\" class=\"fn\"><a id=\"b794577f-116b-4ffa-a81c-14825a1a1dbc-link\" href=\"#b794577f-116b-4ffa-a81c-14825a1a1dbc\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the oxidation numbers for sulfur in each of the specified chemical species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a) In SO\u2083, the oxidation number of sulfur is\u00a0<strong>+6<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>b) In SO\u2083\u00b2\u207b, the oxidation number of sulfur is\u00a0<strong>+4<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>c) In S\u2088, the oxidation number of sulfur is\u00a0<strong>0<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>c) In H\u2082SO\u2084, the oxidation number of sulfur is\u00a0<strong>+6<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The oxidation number, or oxidation state, is a conceptual tool used to track electrons in chemical reactions. It represents the hypothetical charge an atom would have if all its bonds to different elements were 100% ionic. The assignment of oxidation numbers follows a set of established rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>a) Sulfur Trioxide (SO\u2083)<\/strong><br>This is a neutral molecule, so the sum of the oxidation numbers of all atoms must equal zero. Oxygen is almost always assigned an oxidation number of -2, except in peroxides or when bonded to fluorine. Here, each of the three oxygen atoms has an oxidation number of -2, for a total contribution of 3 \u00d7 (-2) = -6. To maintain neutrality for the molecule, the single sulfur atom must have an oxidation number that balances this negative charge.<br>Let S be the oxidation number of sulfur:<br>S + 3(-2) = 0<br>S &#8211; 6 = 0<br>S = +6<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>b) Sulfite Ion (SO\u2083\u00b2\u207b)<\/strong><br>This is a polyatomic ion with an overall charge of 2-. Therefore, the sum of the oxidation numbers must equal -2. As in the previous case, each oxygen atom is assigned an oxidation number of -2, contributing a total of 3 \u00d7 (-2) = -6. The oxidation number of sulfur must be such that the total sum equals the ion&#8217;s charge.<br>Let S be the oxidation number of sulfur:<br>S + 3(-2) = -2<br>S &#8211; 6 = -2<br>S = +4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>c) Octasulfur (S\u2088)<\/strong><br>This molecule represents the elemental form of sulfur. A fundamental rule of oxidation states is that any atom in its pure elemental form has an oxidation number of zero. Since all atoms in the S\u2088 molecule are sulfur, there is no difference in electronegativity, and no hypothetical charge transfer occurs. Therefore, the oxidation number of sulfur is&nbsp;<strong>0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>c) Sulfuric Acid (H\u2082SO\u2084)<\/strong><br>Sulfuric acid is a neutral compound, so the sum of all oxidation numbers is zero. According to the rules, hydrogen is assigned an oxidation number of +1 when bonded to nonmetals, and oxygen is assigned -2.<br>Let S be the oxidation number of sulfur:<br>2(H) + S + 4(O) = 0<br>2(+1) + S + 4(-2) = 0<br>+2 + S &#8211; 8 = 0<br>S &#8211; 6 = 0<br>S = +6thumb_upthumb_down<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner5-484.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-234170\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>: a) SO3 6) SO32 (&#8216;&#8221;1 &#8216;&#8221;1 &#8211; c) HSO4 S8 The Correct Answer and Explanation is:1 Here are the oxidation numbers for sulfur in each of the specified chemical species. Explanation The oxidation number, or oxidation state, is a conceptual tool used to track electrons in chemical reactions. It represents the hypothetical charge an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}