Question

The oxidation states of sulphur in \[S{O_3}^ {-2} \] is :

Answer 1

Hint: In the given question we have to find out what oxidation state would sulphur have by the basic rules we have. Now we just have to get the basic rules regarding the evaluation of the oxidation state. By that we get that the oxidation state of oxygen is $ - 2$ until it isn’t with the fluorine. So we just have to keep the values in the equation and then solve it.

Complete Step by step Solution:
The given question is asked about the oxidation state of the sulphur atom which is bonded in the given molecule. The molecule that is mentioned is of \[S{O_3}^ {-2} \]. Basically oxidation state can also be referred to as the pseudo electron deficit or charge over the atom.
There are specific rules we need to follow in order to obtain the oxidation state of any atom in a desired or obtained system of molecules. They are:
Firstly the metals would be generally positive whereas the non-metals negative.
This is obtained on a comparative basis where basically they are compared over the donations of electrons and the difference of electronegativity or electropositivity.
Now Fluorine is always $ - 1$ to begin with and oxygen is $ - 2$ until it isn’t with the fluorine.
Hydrogen can be $ + 1$ or $ - 1$ depending on the scenario.
We have to equate the total charge with the charge present on the molecule to get the answer.
Now we just have to solve it :
So oxidation state for sulphur would be : $x$
So oxidation state for oxygen would be : $ - 2$
The cumulative oxidation state would be therefore,
$ = x + 3( - 2) = - 2$
Now we just have to solve it and then get the answer we need,
$ = x + 3( - 2) = - 2 \\
   = x = - 2 + 6 \\
   = x = 4 \\
$

So the required answer would be $x = 4$ or the $ + 4$ oxidation state.

Note: The oxidation state, sometimes referred to as oxidation number, describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons) of an atom in a chemical compound. Conceptually, the oxidation state, which may be positive, negative or zero, is the hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were \[100\% \] ionic, with no covalent component