Question

What is the reaction called when oxidation and reduction take place simultaneously? Explain with one example.

Answer 1

Hint: Oxidation is the release of the electrons and reduction is the acceptance of the electrons. The name of the process when both occurs simultaneously is the combination of the name of both processes.

Complete answer:
An atom loss or gain electrons to form a bond with other atoms. The atom which loses electrons goes under the oxidation process and the atom which gains electrons goes under the reduction process.
When both the processes take place simultaneously the reaction is known as redox reaction that is reduction plus oxidation. The ‘red’ stands for reduction and ‘ox’ stands for oxidation.
The species which cause the reduction of other species is known as the reducing agent and the species which cause the oxidation of other species is known as the oxidizing agent.
The reaction in which electrons are transferred between two reactants is known as the redox reaction.
An example of the redox reaction is as follows:
The reaction between zinc and copper sulphate is an example of redox reaction.
${\text{Zn}}\,{\text{(s) + }}\,{\text{CuS}}{{\text{O}}_{\text{4}}}\,{\text{(aq)}}\, \to {\text{Cu(s) + }}\,{\text{ZnS}}{{\text{O}}_{\text{4}}}\,{\text{(aq)}}\,$
In this reaction, zinc metal loses electrons so, the oxidation of zinc takes place and copper ion gains electrons so, the reduction of copper ion takes place.
Here, the zinc metal is a reducing agent and the copper ion is an oxidizing agent.
The separate reduction and oxidation processes are as follows:
Oxidation of zinc: ${\text{Zn}}\,{\text{(s)}} \to {\text{Z}}{{\text{n}}^{2 + }}\,{\text{(aq)}}\, + 2{{\text{e}}^ - }\,$
Reduction of copper: ${\text{C}}{{\text{u}}^{2 + }}\,{\text{(aq)}}\, + 2{{\text{e}}^ - }\, \to {\text{Cu}}\,{\text{(s)}}$

Therefore, the reaction are called as redox reaction when the oxidation and the reduction take place simultaneously.

Note: Redox reactions contain two processes, reduction and oxidation but both are the dependent process. In the presence of a species that accept electrons, another species loses electrons.