Question

What do you mean by oxidation?

Answer 1

In order to answer the given question, we must have an idea about what an oxidation is. The term oxidation can be defined on the basis of the Oxygen transfer, hydrogen transfer and electron transfer.

Complete answer:
Let us now understand about oxidation. The oxidation is a process which occurs when an atom, ion or molecule will lose one or more electrons in a chemical reaction.
In other words, we can say that the oxidation is a process which involves the gain of oxygen and the loss of hydrogen.
In the oxidation process, the oxidation state of the reactant will be increased.
The rotting of the wood and rusting of iron are examples of oxidation processes.
Let us take different examples for the oxidation reaction:
- Magnesium on oxidation in presence of oxygen will Magnesium oxide.
$2Mg + {O_2} \to 2MgO$
- Ethanol on oxidation will produce an aldehyde called ethanal.
$C{H_3}C{H_2}OH \to C{H_3}CHO$
- Toluene is oxidized to benzoic acid in presence of potassium permanganate and sulphuric acid.
- Alcohols are oxidized to give aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acid.

Note:
We have to remember that the reduction is the opposite of the oxidation. Reduction is a process which involves the loss of oxygen and gain of hydrogen.
In other words, we can also say that reduction is a process which involves the gain of one or more electrons.
In the reduction process the oxidation state of the reactant will be decreased.