What is the oxidation number of Cu in CuO?
Understand the Problem
The question is asking for the oxidation number of copper in the compound CuO, which involves understanding the oxidation states of the elements in the compound.
Answer
+2
The oxidation number of Cu in CuO is +2.
Answer for screen readers
The oxidation number of Cu in CuO is +2.
More Information
Cupric oxide (CuO) typically has copper in the +2 oxidation state and oxygen in the -2 oxidation state, balancing each other out to make the compound neutral.
Tips
A common mistake is to confuse CuO with Cu2O, which has copper in the +1 oxidation state.
Sources
- What is the oxidation state of copper in CuO? - Homework.Study.com - homework.study.com
- What are the oxidation states of copper? - Socratic - socratic.org