What does the oxidizing agent do in a redox reaction?

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What does the oxidizing agent do in a redox reaction?

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Answer 1 · 2017-01-12T18:34:51

It formally accepts electrons, and thus it is REDUCED in a redox equation.

Explanation:

A typical oxidizing agent features a metal in a high oxidation state, for example ${MnO}_{4}^{-}$ $"MnO"_4^-$ , where we have $Mn(VII+)$ $"Mn(VII+)"$ . I like this reagent, because it has an intense purple colour, and when you perform a redox titration it is typically reduced to COLOURLESS $M n^{2 +}$ $Mn^(2+)$ , and thus such a redox titration is self-indicating:

${MnO}_{4}^{-} + {8H}^{+} + 5 e^{-} \to {Mn}^{2 +} + 4 H_{2} O$ $"MnO"_4^(-) +"8H"^(+) + 5e^(-) rarr "Mn"^(2+) + 4"H"_2"O"$

And when you write such a redox reaction, the two questions you gots to be asking yourself, are (i) is mass balanced, and (ii) is charge balanced? Well, is it?

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What does the oxidizing agent do in a redox reaction?

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