In which of the following compounds is the oxidation number of nitrogen equal to + 3?
Answer Details
The oxidation number of an element is the hypothetical charge it would have if all its bonds were purely ionic. In other words, it is a measure of the degree of oxidation of an atom in a molecule. To determine the oxidation number of nitrogen in each compound, we need to know the electronegativity of the other elements involved in the bond. In NO2, the electronegativity of oxygen is higher than nitrogen, so nitrogen is assigned an oxidation number of +4. In N2O, the oxidation number of nitrogen is +1. In NO, nitrogen is assigned an oxidation number of +2. In HNO2, nitrogen is assigned an oxidation number of +3. In HNO3, nitrogen is assigned an oxidation number of +5. Therefore, the only compound in which the oxidation number of nitrogen is equal to +3 is HNO2.