I have a question about reduced and oxidized chemicals and potenital enery.
Reduced have weaker PE because they hold on to their electrons
and oxidized have strong PE because they can let go electrons right?
If I am right then why is that CO2 has a low PE because Oxygen is more electronegative Carbon.
You are partially correct in your understanding of the relationship between reduced and oxidized chemicals and their potential energy (PE). Let's break it down to clarify.
Reduced and oxidized chemicals refer to different states of the same chemical species. In a chemical reaction, a substance can either gain or lose electrons. Reducing agents donate electrons and get oxidized, while oxidizing agents accept electrons and get reduced.
Your understanding that reduced chemicals have weaker PE because they hold onto their electrons is correct. When a substance gains electrons, its electron configuration becomes more stable, resulting in a lower energy state.
However, the statement that oxidized chemicals have strong PE because they can let go of electrons is not entirely accurate. When a substance loses electrons and gets oxidized, the overall PE of the system may decrease, but it doesn't imply that oxidized substances necessarily have high PE.
Now, let's address your example of CO2. In CO2, carbon (C) is oxidized, and oxygen (O) is reduced. Oxygen is more electronegative than carbon, meaning it has a stronger affinity for electrons. As a result, oxygen pulls electron density toward itself, causing the carbon-oxygen double bond in CO2 to be polarized.
This polarization results in a greater electron density around the oxygen atoms, effectively stabilizing the system and lowering its overall PE. So, although oxygen is more electronegative and pulls electron density towards itself, it doesn't necessarily mean that CO2 has a high PE. In fact, CO2 is relatively stable and has a lower PE compared to other species.
To summarize, the relationship between reduced/oxidized states and PE is based on the stability gained or lost from the transfer of electrons. While reduced chemicals generally have weaker PE due to electron gain, the potential energy of a molecule is influenced by various factors beyond just electronegativity.