{"id":256527,"date":"2025-07-16T10:08:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T10:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=256527"},"modified":"2025-07-16T10:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T10:08:18","slug":"what-is-the-oxidation-number-of-n-in-nitric-acid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/16\/what-is-the-oxidation-number-of-n-in-nitric-acid\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the oxidation number of N in nitric acid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the oxidation number of N in nitric acid (<br>)? a) 0 b) +3 c) +5 d) -5 e) -3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-1-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Correct Answer: c) +5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine the oxidation number of nitrogen in nitric acid (HNO\u2083), we need to consider the known oxidation numbers of the other atoms and the overall charge of the molecule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 1: Assign known oxidation numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hydrogen (H) usually has an oxidation number of <strong>+1<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oxygen (O) usually has an oxidation number of <strong>-2<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nitric acid (HNO\u2083) is a <strong>neutral compound<\/strong>, so the <strong>sum of all oxidation numbers must be zero<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 2: Let x be the oxidation number of nitrogen (N)<\/strong><br>In HNO\u2083, there is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1 hydrogen: +1<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 nitrogen: x<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 oxygens: 3 \u00d7 (-2) = -6<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Set up the equation:<\/strong><br>(+1) + (x) + (-6) = 0<br>1 + x &#8211; 6 = 0<br>x &#8211; 5 = 0<br>x = +5<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the oxidation number of nitrogen in HNO\u2083 is <strong>+5<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The oxidation number, also known as the oxidation state, is a concept used to keep track of electrons in chemical reactions, especially redox (oxidation-reduction) reactions. It represents the hypothetical charge an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were 100 percent ionic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In nitric acid (HNO\u2083), we have three elements: hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. The molecule is neutral, meaning the total of all oxidation numbers must add up to zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hydrogen almost always has an oxidation number of +1 when bonded to nonmetals, which it is here. Oxygen, being more electronegative, typically has an oxidation number of -2. With three oxygen atoms, their combined oxidation number is 3 \u00d7 -2 = -6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Letting x represent the unknown oxidation number of nitrogen, the total equation becomes:<br>+1 (from hydrogen) + x (from nitrogen) + -6 (from oxygen) = 0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Solving this yields x = +5, which means nitrogen in HNO\u2083 is in the +5 oxidation state. This is consistent with nitrogen being highly oxidized in nitric acid, which is a strong oxidizing agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding oxidation numbers is critical for analyzing chemical reactions, predicting the behavior of compounds, and balancing redox equations. Nitric acid&#8217;s strong oxidizing power comes from nitrogen being in its highest common oxidation state, allowing it to accept electrons in redox reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/learnexams-banner6-644.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-256528\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the oxidation number of N in nitric acid ()? a) 0 b) +3 c) +5 d) -5 e) -3 The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Correct Answer: c) +5 To determine the oxidation number of nitrogen in nitric acid (HNO\u2083), we need to consider the known oxidation numbers of the other atoms and [&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-256527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256527","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=256527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}