What is the oxidation number of oxygen in hydrogen peroxide?

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What is the oxidation number of oxygen in hydrogen peroxide?

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Answer 1 · 2017-01-06T20:34:33

In hydrogen peroxide, the oxidation number of each oxygen is $- I$ $-I$ .

Explanation:

Oxidation number is the charge left on the central atom, when all the bonds are broken with the charge assigned to most electronegative atom.

With $H - O - O - H$ $H-O-O-H$ , we break a $H - O$ $H-O$ bond, and get $H^{+}$ $H^+$ and $^{-} O$ $""^(-)O$ . However, if we break an $O - O$ $O-O$ bond the 2 electrons in the $O - O$ $O-O$ bond are SHARED between the oxygen atoms, to give $2 \times \cdot O^{-}$ $2xx*O^-$ ; i.e. the oxygen atoms necessarily have the same electronegativity.

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What is the oxidation number of oxygen in hydrogen peroxide?

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