What is the oxidation state of chlorine in NaClO2?
1 Answer
Jun 4, 2014
+3
To work thus out you need to know that sodium in compounds always has an oxidation number of +1 ( which you'd expect as it is in Group 1), and oxygen has an oxidation number of -2 in its compounds (except for peroxides).
You then use the rule that the sum of the oxidation numbers in a compound must add to zero, and Na (+1) + Cl (+3) + O (-2) + O (-2) =0