Abstract
Abstract Combustion is a common redox reaction, and organic combustion is one of the basic contents in chemistry curriculum. The transferred H-atom is commonly used as a redox indicator in organic chemistry and biochemistry. Nevertheless, the relationship between the number of transferred H-atoms and the number of transferred electrons has not been fully revealed. Oxidation number (ON) is an electron-counting concept. Without knowing the ONs, the number of transferred electrons cannot be counted and therefore, the redox reactions cannot be classified, defined, and balanced. This paper explores the new H-atom method for counting the number of transferred H-atoms. It provides a half-reaction approach to balance the overall organic combustion reactions. Only simple arithmetic procedures are needed to determine the number of transferred H-atoms and consequently the number of transferred electrons. According to this method, the mathematical formulas for assigning the number of transferred H-atoms can be deducted by balancing the general chemical formulas of organic compounds in half and overall organic combustions. Furthermore, the number of transferred electrons and their stoichiometric categories can be determined conveniently by any given organic chemical formula in organic combustion reactions.
Highlights
Combustion is a common redox reaction, and organic combustion reactions and stoichiometry are some of the basic contents in general chemistry curriculum (Chang & Goldsby, 2013; Tro, 2014)
The knowledge of counting the number of transferred electrons and balancing organic combustion reactions is important for chemistry students
Both the arithmetic and algebraic methods can be applied to balance and deduct a complete combustion equation, they cannot be used to determine the number of transferred electrons
Summary
Combustion is a common redox reaction, and organic combustion reactions and stoichiometry are some of the basic contents in general chemistry curriculum (Chang & Goldsby, 2013; Tro, 2014). The nature of redox reaction is an electron transfer reaction. Students need to know how to count the number of transferred electrons and balance organic combustion reactions. Both the arithmetic and algebraic methods can be applied effectively to balance and deduct a complete combustion equation (Lau & Yuen, 2015). They cannot be used to determine the number of transferred electrons. To manage this task, the ON method is more suited.
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