When looking at the Periodic Table, the oxidation state of hydrogen is +1; however my teacher told me that the net charge of hydrogen is 0. I do not understand why this is? Also, How may one calculate the charge of an element if only given the number of protons and neutrons (I attempted to answer this by looking at the Periodic table at the oxidation state, but was wrong) Thank you for your answer!

The oxidation state of H is +1 (most but not all of the time) and that simply tells you that it has a tendency to lose 1 electron and become +1 charged. However, H2 is a gas and all elements in the free state have an oxidation state of zero. H2 in the free state has neither gained no lost an electron. It does this by sharing the two electrons between the two atoms as in H:H. This way each H atom thinks it has two electrons to complete the outside shell. The answer to your secnd question is that you can't. The charge of an atom is determined by the number of protons - number of electrons. For example, if a chlorine atom has 17 protons and 17 electrons it has a zero charge. If it has 17 protons and 18 electrons it has a -1 charge. You can tell what oxidation state or charge may occur in reaction by looking the periodic table. Elements on the left tend to lose electrons; those on the right trend to gain electrons.

The oxidation state of an element represents the charge that it would have if all of its bonds were completely ionic. In the case of hydrogen, it is generally assigned an oxidation state of +1 because it tends to lose an electron and form a positive ion in chemical reactions. However, it is important to note that hydrogen can also exhibit an oxidation state of -1 in certain compounds, such as hydrides.

Now, regarding your confusion about the net charge of hydrogen being 0, your teacher is correct. The net charge of an isolated hydrogen atom is 0 because it contains one proton (with a positive charge) in its nucleus and one electron (with a negative charge) in its electron cloud. These opposite charges cancel each other out, resulting in a neutral atom. It should be noted that the oxidation state is different from the net charge of an element.

To calculate the charge of an element based on the number of protons and neutrons, you would need to consider the atom's position in the periodic table and its electron configuration. The charge of an element is determined by the number of electrons it has gained or lost. In general, the charge of an element can be found by subtracting the number of electrons from the number of protons. For example, if an atom has 16 protons and 18 electrons, the charge of the element would be -2 (16 protons - 18 electrons = -2 charge).

It's important to note that this method provides a simplified way to calculate charges and may not always represent the actual oxidation state an element exhibits in compounds. The actual charge or oxidation state of an element can be influenced by various factors, including its chemical environment and the nature of its bonding. It is therefore necessary to refer to more detailed information, such as oxidation state trends in the periodic table and knowledge of specific chemical compounds, to accurately determine the charge of an element.