Question

Question 3.2

Identify the substance that is oxidized and the substance that is reduced in the following reaction:

$\text{CuO(s)}+{\text{H}}_2\text{(g)}\to \text{Cu(s)}+{\text{H}}_2\text{O(l)}$

Answer 1

A substance is said to be oxidised if it gains oxygen and it is said to be reduced if it loses oxygen. In the given reaction, copper oxide $\left(\text{CuO}\right)$ is reduced to copper $\left(\text{Cu}\right)$ while hydrogen $\left({\text{H}}_2\right)$ is oxidized to water $\left({\text{H}}_2\text{O}\right)$.