After reading and thinking about oxidation and reduction a bit, I tried to come up with a way to explain it to myself… Could someone verify if this is technically correct? Consider 2 elements A and B where A is more electronegative than B. (Also O represents Oxygen) If in a reaction $$\ce{AO + B -> BO + A}$$ So assuming that O is more electronegative than both A and B In AO,
- Oxidation Number of O = -2
- Oxidation Number of A = +2
So we could say that O is “negatively charged” (or partially negative if it’s a covalent bond) while A is “positively charged” ( or partially positive if it’s covalent) and hence this is why they are attracted to each other (This part I’m not sure). Now given that A is more electronegative than B, when B comes near AO, A attracts electrons from B and oxidises B.
- Oxidation Number of A gets reduced to 0 (A is reduced)
- Oxidation Number of B increases to +2 (B is oxidised)
Now we could say that A is now “neutral” and B is “positively charged” while O remains “negatively charged”. Hence O is attracted to B forming BO. Thus $$\ce{AO + B -> BO + A}$$
From the above, we can thus say that a loss in oxygen causes reduction and a gain in oxygen causes oxidation. Is this how redox reactions work or am I exaggerating everything?