What is the oxidation state of phosphorus in Na3PO4?

It’s 0!

When a compound contains just one element, no matter how many atoms there are, their oxidation state is zero.

For example:

O2 (diatomic oxygen) Ox. State = 0

N2 Ox. State = 0

Cl2 (chlorine gas) Ox. State = 0

It makes sense doesn’t it? The average of the oxidation states of the atoms MUST be zero, and you honestly can’t tell which atom is slightly positive and slightly negative when they’re all the same…right?

These systems are all dynamic too, so the electrons are buzzing around constantly (well sort of), and the atom that was slightly positive might now be slightly negative!

Good question, keep up the chemistry!

So your Overall Oxidation Number(all individual oxidation numbers added together) equals your charge of species being looked at.

In the case of H2PO4- the overall charge is -1 thus your individual oxidation numbers must add up to -1.

H is normally +1 and O is normally -2( I say normally because there is always an exception). Applying this to H2PO4- we get…

(2 x H) + (4 x O) =

(2 x +1) + (4 x -2) =

+2 + -8 = -6

So just from our H and O we get an overall of -6 while needing final to be -1. So applying our logic we find P to be +5.

(1 x P) + -6 = -1

P - 6 = -1

P = +5

As long as u know the generalized rules for finding oxidation numbers it is very easy to find oxidation numbers of any element in any compound.

I’ll assume you mean NaHCO3 (Sodium bicarbonate). [What you wrote, NaHCo3, would be sodium tricobalt monohydride, but I’d be surprised if that were a real compound.]

Na, an alkali metal, has oxidation number +1.

O has its usual oxidation number of -2 (NaHCO3 is not a peroxide, for example).

H: you’ll have to trust me here that the H is bonded to O, not to Na; thus this is NOT a metal hydride, and H has oxidation number +1.

So to find the oxidation number of C, use the fact that the sum of oxidation numbers must equal zero for a neutral molecule. (+1) + (+1) + x + 3(-2) = 0 so that x = oxidation number of carbon = +4.

AlN, as can be observed from its components, is an ionic compound. But we know that every ionic compound has covalent character to some or more extent. The covalent character of an ionic compound is governed by Fajan's rule. Here, as the charge on Al and N is +3 & -3 respectively i.e very high, AlN has very high covalent character.

Having covalent character to such an extent, the electron cloud of N is distorted by Al but due to its high electronegativity, shared pair of electrons are shifted towards N thus developing partial -3 charge on N and partial +3 charge on Al.

Hence, oxidation state of Al is +3 and that of N is -3 in AlN.

+5. Oxygen always has an oxidation state of -2 & sodium’s is always +1. So the 4 O atoms combined makes -8 and the trio of Na atoms takes +3 off that. As a compound’s oxidation state is always 0, the phosphorus has to be at +5 to balance things out.

In Na3PO4 Na oxidation state is +1 and O oxidation state is -2. So in Na3PO4 3-Na got +3, and 4-O got -8 charge which gives coverall -5 charge. As Na3PO4 is neutral so to do neutral -5, P shows +5 oxidation state. .

Phosphorous can have an oxidation state of 1,2,3,4,5 -3,-2,-1 the most common being 5, 3 and -3

Dynamic Periodic Table

Hi!

The oxidation number of the whole compound as such is 0.

But i believe the question was somewhat different than just asking for the oxidation number of the compound as a whole.

If we are asked the oxidation number of Mn :

(assuming the O.S of Mn as x)

x + 3(+7 + (4)(-2) ) = 0

x=+3

Similarly,

O.S of Cl = +7

O.S of O = -2

Thanks:)

3 because the over all oxidation number Is -3 and the oxidation number for oxygen is -2 so

3*-2=-6 for oxygen

And we don't know the oxidation number of P so let us represent it as an X

X+(-6)=-3

X=-3+6=3

X=3

The oxidation number for P in po3-3 is 3