What are the oxidation numbers for ClO-?

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What are the oxidation numbers for ClO-?

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Answer 1 · 2016-01-20T00:26:29

Here's what I got.

Explanation:

You're dealing with the hypochlorite anion, ${ClO}^{-}$ $"ClO"^(-)$ , so right from the start you know that the oxidation numbers of the atoms that make up the anion must be equal to $- 1$ $-1$ , the overall charge of the ion.

This means that you can write

$O N_{chlorine} + O N_{oxygen} = - 1$ $ON_"chlorine" + ON_"oxygen" = -1$

Now, oxidation numbers are all about electronegativity. As you know, oxidation numbers are assigned with one concept in mind - that more electronegative atoms will take the bonding electrons from the bond it has with a less electronegative atom.

When oxygen is pairred with a less electronegative atom, its oxidation state is always equal to $- 2$ $color(blue)(-2)$ .

In this case, oxygen is indeed more electronegative than chlorine, so you can say that

$O N_{chlorine} + (- 2) = - 1$ $ON_"chlorine" + (color(blue)(-2)) = -1$

This means that you have

$O N_{chlorine} = - 1 + 2 = + 1$ $ON_"chlorine" = -1 + 2 = color(blue)(+1)$

The oxidation numbers for the atoms that make up the ion are

$+ 1 Cl - 2 O^{-}$ $stackrel(color(blue)(+1))("Cl") stackrel(color(blue)(-2))("O"^(-))$

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What are the oxidation numbers for ClO-?

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