Question

Fill in the blanks: The process of loss of an electron is known as
A.An oxidation
B. reduction
C. enthalpy
D. entropy

Answer 1

Hint: The electron is a subatomic particle. It is a negatively charged particle. The mass of the electron is, \[9.1 \times {10^{ - 31}}kg\] . The number of the electron in a neutral atom is the same as the number of the proton. But when the electron gets lost from an atom the number of the electron gets decreased than a proton. And due to this positive charge is developed on the atom. The number of positive charges is proportional to the number of electrons lost.

Complete step by step answer:
Due to the loss of electrons, a positive charge is developed, when an electron gets to accept a negative charge is developed .Which is also known as the oxidation state of that atom.
oxidation state means a number that is assigned to an element to represent the number of electrons lost from that element or the number of electrons consumed by the element. The oxidation state can be both positive or negative.
Those species that accept electrons and undergo reduction are called an oxidizing agent and the species that donate electrons and undergo oxidation are called reducing agents.
Therefore, the process of loss of an electron is known as oxidation.

So, the correct answer is, A.

Additional information:
As we go down the group in a periodic table, the stability of higher oxidation states decreases due to more penetration of s-orbital in the nucleus. Therefore, the lower oxidation states become more stable than the higher ones as we go down the group.
For the bottom elements of a group, the electrons present in the outermost s-orbital do not take part in the formation of a chemical bond. The tendency of these two s-electrons to stay inert and not react is called the inert pair effect. The main valency is the number of electrons present in the p-subshell of outermost electrons.

Note:
In the reaction, \[PbO + C \to Pb + CO:\]
In the given reaction, we see that carbon is donating its electrons and undergoing oxidation by forming CO, therefore carbon acts as a reducing agent.
Similarly, PbO acts as an oxidizing agent as it accepts electrons and undergoes reduction to become a neutral atom.