The four ways to define oxidation, the oxidation-number rules with every trap in them, and both balancing methods worked line by line on real equations.
Unit 1 carries 17 of the 50 chemistry marks; with fourteen chapters sharing them, this one averages a little over one (MEC publishes weights by unit, not by chapter). Its real value is larger, because an oxidation number has to be right before anything in volumetric analysis or electrochemistry can be.
The MEC scope line runs: Classical and electronic concepts of oxidation and reduction. Oxidation number. Balancing of redox equations by the oxidation-number and ion-electron methods. Applications of redox reactions. The headings below are its points, in that order.
Three ways it is asked. Recall — the oxidation number of chromium in K₂Cr₂O₇, what KMnO₄ becomes in alkaline solution. Understanding — why H₂O₂ can be both oxidant and reductant, what disproportionation means. Application — balance a half-equation, or work out the fractional oxidation number of iron in Fe₃O₄ or of sulphur in Na₂S₄O₆.
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