Question

Use the chemical equation to complete the activity.

H2(9) + 12(9) → 2H|(g)
A student makes the following statements:
• Hydrogen always has the same oxidation number, so it has an oxidation number of +1 in both the reactant Ha and product HI.
• lodine is in Group VIIA, so it has an oxidation number of -1 in both the reactant
2 and product HI.
• Neither hydrogen nor iodine changes oxidation states, so the reaction isnot a redox reaction.
In three to five sentences, describe the mistake that the student made, and determine whether or not the reaction is a redox reaction. Explain your answer.

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Bot GPT 3.5]

The mistake the student made was assuming that hydrogen always has an oxidation number of +1 and iodine always has an oxidation number of -1. However, in this reaction, hydrogen has an oxidation number of 0 on the reactant side (H2) and +1 on the product side (H+). Iodine has an oxidation number of 0 on the reactant side (I2) and -1 on the product side (I-). Therefore, both hydrogen and iodine change their oxidation states, indicating that the reaction is indeed a redox reaction.