00:02
Hi there, in this question we are trying to identify whether copper was oxidized or reduced.
00:09
So to answer this question, let's start out for a moment talking about oxidation and reduction.
00:15
Oxidation is a loss of one or more electrons.
00:23
Since a substance is losing one or more electrons and electrons are negatively charged, the substance's oxidation number will become more positive.
00:33
In other words, it will increase.
00:45
Conversely, for reduction, we're going to see that these two things are opposite.
00:53
Reduction is a gain of one or more electrons, and since the substance is gaining negative particles, it is going to be reduced.
01:07
Or in other words, its oxidation number will decrease.
01:19
Okay, so with this information, we are ready to attack this problem.
01:24
We have an equation where we have copper, copper ion with a two plus charge, it is aqueous.
01:32
It's reacting with solid potassium, and in turn, it's producing then solid copper plus the potassium ion.
01:52
Okay, so as we, let's go ahead and assign oxidation numbers...