{"id":254010,"date":"2025-07-12T09:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T09:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=254010"},"modified":"2025-07-12T09:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T09:01:09","slug":"what-is-the-oxidation-state-of-carbon-in-baking-soda-aka-sodium-hydrogen-carbonate-or-sodium-bicarbonate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/12\/what-is-the-oxidation-state-of-carbon-in-baking-soda-aka-sodium-hydrogen-carbonate-or-sodium-bicarbonate\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the oxidation state of carbon in baking soda (aka; sodium hydrogen carbonate or sodium bicarbonate)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

‘What is the oxidation state of carbon in baking soda (aka; sodium hydrogen carbonate or sodium bicarbonate)?’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer and explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oxidation state of carbon in baking soda (sodium hydrogen carbonate, NaHCO\u2083) is +4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To determine the oxidation state of carbon in sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO\u2083), we first assign oxidation states to all the elements based on known rules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Sodium (Na)<\/strong>: Sodium is an alkali metal, and alkali metals always have an oxidation state of +1 in compounds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Hydrogen (H)<\/strong>: In most compounds, hydrogen has an oxidation state of +1.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Oxygen (O)<\/strong>: Oxygen typically has an oxidation state of -2, except in peroxides or when bonded to fluorine.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Carbon (C)<\/strong>: This is the element we need to determine the oxidation state for.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The formula of sodium bicarbonate is NaHCO\u2083, which means it contains one sodium ion (Na\u207a), one hydrogen ion (H\u207a), one carbonate ion (CO\u2083\u00b2\u207b), and three oxygen atoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The sum of the oxidation states of all elements in a neutral molecule must be zero. Let\u2019s break it down step by step:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • The oxidation state of Na is +1.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The oxidation state of H is +1.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The oxidation state of O is -2, and since there are three oxygen atoms in the carbonate ion (CO\u2083\u00b2\u207b), the total oxidation state contribution from oxygen is 3 \u00d7 (-2) = -6.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The carbonate ion (CO\u2083\u00b2\u207b) has an overall charge of -2. To balance the total charge, the oxidation state of carbon must be +4.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      So, the oxidation states are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Na = +1<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • H = +1<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • C = +4<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • O = -2 (for each oxygen atom)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        When added together: +1 (Na) + 1 (H) + 4 (C) + (-6) (O) = 0, which confirms that the compound is neutral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Thus, the oxidation state of carbon in sodium bicarbonate is +4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        ‘What is the oxidation state of carbon in baking soda (aka; sodium hydrogen carbonate or sodium bicarbonate)?’ The correct answer and explanation is: The oxidation state of carbon in baking soda (sodium hydrogen carbonate, NaHCO\u2083) is +4. Explanation: To determine the oxidation state of carbon in sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO\u2083), we first assign oxidation states to […]<\/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-254010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254010","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=254010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}