Review of Redox Chemistry

Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Describe defining traits of redox chemistry
  • Identify the oxidant and reductant of a redox reaction
  • Balance chemical equations for redox reactions using the half-reaction method

Since reactions involving electron transfer are essential to the topic of electrochemistry, a brief review of redox chemistry is provided here that summarizes and extends the content of an earlier text chapter (see chapter on reaction stoichiometry). Readers wishing additional review are referred to the text chapter on reaction stoichiometry.