Question

13) If the oxidation number of nitrogen in a certain molecule changes from +2 to -2 during a reaction, how many electrons are gained (or lost) by each nitrogen atom?

Answer 1

4 electrons were gained

Step-by-step explanation:

Here, we want to get the number of electrons gained or lost

From what we have, there was a change from a positive value to a negative one

Since electrons are negatively charged entities, it means that the nitrogen atoms gained electrons.

For the change to have occurred, there must have been a matching of two electrons initially, then another two electrons

Thus, we have the total number of electrons gained as 4