{"id":262668,"date":"2025-07-20T18:25:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T18:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=262668"},"modified":"2025-07-20T18:25:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T18:25:42","slug":"what-is-the-oxidation-number-of-chlorine-in-sodium-chlorite-naclo2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/20\/what-is-the-oxidation-number-of-chlorine-in-sodium-chlorite-naclo2\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the oxidation number of chlorine in sodium chlorite, NaClO2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the oxidation number of chlorine in sodium chlorite, NaClO2? a) -1 b) +1 c) +3 d) +5 e) +7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The oxidation number of chlorine in sodium chlorite (NaClO\u2082) is +3<\/strong> (option c).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a breakdown of how we determine this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Oxidation numbers of elements<\/strong>:\n
      \n
    • Sodium (Na) is in Group 1, and in compounds, it typically has an oxidation number of +1<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Oxygen (O) in most compounds (except peroxides) has an oxidation number of -2<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Total charge of the compound<\/strong>:
      Sodium chlorite is a neutral compound, meaning the sum of the oxidation numbers of all atoms in the formula must equal zero.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Assign oxidation numbers<\/strong>:\n
        \n
      • The oxidation number of sodium (Na) is +1<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • The oxidation number of each oxygen (O) is -2<\/strong>. There are two oxygen atoms, so their total oxidation number contribution is 2\u00d7(\u22122)=\u221242 \\times (-2) = -42\u00d7(\u22122)=\u22124.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Set up the equation<\/strong>:
        Let the oxidation number of chlorine (Cl) be xxx. The sum of oxidation numbers in NaClO\u2082 should be zero: (+1)+x+(\u22124)=0(+1) + x + (-4) = 0(+1)+x+(\u22124)=0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Solve for xxx<\/strong> (the oxidation number of chlorine): x=4\u22121=+3x = 4 – 1 = +3x=4\u22121=+3<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Thus, the oxidation number of chlorine in sodium chlorite (NaClO\u2082) is +3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        This matches the correct answer: c) +3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

        What is the oxidation number of chlorine in sodium chlorite, NaClO2? a) -1 b) +1 c) +3 d) +5 e) +7 The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The oxidation number of chlorine in sodium chlorite (NaClO\u2082) is +3 (option c). Here’s a breakdown of how we determine this: Thus, the oxidation number of chlorine in […]<\/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-262668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262668","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=262668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}