Oxidation & Reduction Process

Oxidation and reduction in terms of oxygen transfer: Oxidation is gain of oxygen. Reduction is loss of oxygen. For example, in the extraction of iron from its ore: Because both reduction and oxidation are going on side-by-side, this is known as a redox reaction. Oxidising and reducing agents An oxidising agent is substance which oxidises something else. In the above example, the iron(III) oxide is the oxidising agent. A reducing agent reduces something else. In the equation, the carbon monoxide is the reducing agent. Oxidising agents give oxygen to another substance. Reducing agents remove oxygen from another substance. Oxidation and reduction in terms of hydrogen transferThese are old definitions which aren't used very much nowadays. The most likely place you will come across them is in organic chemistry. Definitions Oxidation is loss of hydrogen. Reduction is gain of hydrogen. Notice that these are exactly the opposite of the oxygen definitions. For example, ethanol can be oxidised to ethanal: You would need to use an oxidising agent to remove the hydrogen from the ethanol. A commonly used oxidising agent is potassium dichromate(VI) solution acidified with dilute sulphuric acid.
Ethanal can also be reduced back to ethanol again by adding hydrogen to it. A possible reducing agent is sodium tetrahydridoborate, NaBH4. Again the equation is too complicated to be worth bothering about at this point. An update on oxidising and reducing agents Oxidising agents give oxygen to another substance or remove hydrogen from it. Reducing agents remove oxygen from another substance or give hydrogen to it. *Example of Oxidation & Reduction Process