{"id":247186,"date":"2025-07-07T15:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=247186"},"modified":"2025-07-07T15:12:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:12:13","slug":"what-is-the-oxidation-number-of-each-atom-in-sulfuric-acid-hso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/07\/what-is-the-oxidation-number-of-each-atom-in-sulfuric-acid-hso\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the oxidation number of each atom in sulfuric acid, HSO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the oxidation number of each atom in sulfuric acid, H
SO
? a. H = +1, S = +6, O = -2 b. H = 0, S = +6, O = -2 c. H = 0, S = 0, O = 0 d. H = +1, S = +4, O = -2 e. H = -1, S = +8, O = -2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer is a. H = +1, S = +6, O = -2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explanation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To determine the oxidation numbers of the elements in sulfuric acid, H\u2082SO\u2084, we follow these steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Oxidation number of hydrogen (H):<\/strong>\n
      \n
    • Hydrogen generally has an oxidation number of +1 when it is bonded with nonmetals. In H\u2082SO\u2084, hydrogen is bonded to oxygen, a nonmetal, so its oxidation number is +1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Oxidation number of oxygen (O):<\/strong>\n
        \n
      • Oxygen typically has an oxidation number of -2 in most compounds, unless it is in peroxides or bonded to fluorine. In H\u2082SO\u2084, each oxygen atom is bonded to sulfur or hydrogen, so the oxidation number of oxygen is -2.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Oxidation number of sulfur (S):<\/strong>
        • To determine the oxidation number of sulfur, we use the fact that the sum of all oxidation numbers in a neutral molecule must be zero.<\/li>
        • The molecule has 2 hydrogen atoms (each with an oxidation number of +1), 4 oxygen atoms (each with an oxidation number of -2), and one sulfur atom, which we need to solve for.<\/li><\/ul>The sum of the oxidation numbers of hydrogen and oxygen is:
          • (2 \u00d7 +1) + (4 \u00d7 -2) = +2 – 8 = -6.<\/li><\/ul>To balance this, sulfur must have an oxidation number of +6 so that the total sum equals zero:\n
              \n
            • Sulfur: +6, Hydrogen: +2, Oxygen: -8.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • +6 + 2 – 8 = 0.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              Thus, the oxidation numbers are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                \n
              • H = +1<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • S = +6<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • O = -2<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                This confirms that the correct answer is a. H = +1, S = +6, O = -2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                What is the oxidation number of each atom in sulfuric acid, HSO? a. H = +1, S = +6, O = -2 b. H = 0, S = +6, O = -2 c. H = 0, S = 0, O = 0 d. H = +1, S = +4, O = -2 e. H = […]<\/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-247186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247186","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=247186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}