Which of the following elements has the largest known oxidation number (in magnitude)?

Pt
Au
Os
Fe
Ru

User Icon for Ginger Ginger answered
16 years ago

Sorry, here are the choices...

Pt, Au, Os, Fe, Ru

Thanks

User Icon for DrBob222 DrBob222 answered
16 years ago

Both Ru and Os have compounds in which the oxidation number of Ru and Os are +8.

User Icon for Explain Bot Explain Bot answered
11 months ago

To determine which of the given elements has the largest known oxidation number, we need to find the highest oxidation state for each element. Here's how you can approach this problem:

1. Look up the oxidation states for each element:
- Platinum (Pt) typically exhibits oxidation states from -2 to +4.
- Gold (Au) commonly has oxidation states from -1 to +5.
- Osmium (Os) is known to have oxidation states from -2 to +8.
- Iron (Fe) is well-known for oxidation states ranging from -2 to +6.
- Ruthenium (Ru) is generally found with oxidation states from -2 to +8.

2. Determine the largest oxidation number within the given range for each element:
- Pt's largest oxidation number is +4.
- Au's largest oxidation number is +5.
- Os's largest oxidation number is +8.
- Fe's largest oxidation number is +6.
- Ru's largest oxidation number is +8.

3. Comparing the values, we can see that osmium (Os) has the largest known oxidation number, which is +8.

Therefore, the element with the largest known oxidation number (in magnitude) among the given options is Osmium (Os).