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  • Lessons
    • Thermodynamics >
      • Thermochemistry Worksheet + Answers
      • First Law of Thermodynamics
      • Pressure-Volume Work
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      • Introduction
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      • Arrhenius Equation
      • How Long will it Take to Decay?
      • What Order is this Reaction?
      • Find the Rate Constant
      • Find the Activation Energy
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      • Ideal Gas Law
      • Density of Gases
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      • Heating Curves
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      • Symmetry of Solids
      • Simple Cubic, fcc and bcc
      • How to Find Edge Length
    • Organic Reactions >
      • Br2 + Alkene (Adding across a double bond)
      • HCl + Alkene (Adding across a double bond)
      • Reaction of OH with Alkyl Halide
      • What is Regioselectivity?
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      • Average Atomic Mass
      • Solve for Isotopic Abundance
      • Limiting Reagents
      • Percent Yield
      • Actual Yield and Percentage Yield
      • Percent Composition
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      • What's in an Atom?
      • Quantum Numbers
      • Pauli, Aufbau, Hund
      • Light: E h ν λ
      • Energy Levels of Hydrogen
      • Energy Levels of Non-Hydrogen Atoms
    • Organic Naming >
      • Naming Organic Molecules
      • How to Name Amines
      • How to Name Amides
  • Privacy Policy
  • Lewis Structures

How to Balance Redox Reactions (Basic Solution)


You've seen how to balance a redox reaction in an acidic solution.  It involves adding H+ to one side of the equation.  What if you're in basic solution?  It's the same process, but there's one additional step.  Try balancing this redox reaction, in basic solution:
Picture
The oxidation number of C changes from -2 to +4 (an increase of 6)
The oxidation number of Mn changes from +7 to +6 (a decrease of 1)

The lowest common multiple between these two is 6.
One C atom loses 6 electrons.
Six Mn atoms lose 1 electron each.
Picture
Add H2O to whichever side lacks oxygen, and add H+ to account for the H atoms we just added (and the H atoms that were present before!)
Picture
Since this reaction is occurring in basic solution, we need to convert the H+ into OH-. We do this by adding OH- to both sides of the equation. Then, the OH- and H+ ions from one side will cancel each other out, to make H2O!
Picture
See how that worked? Pretty slick, eh!
Created by Nathan Oldridge (aka ChemistNATE).  All lessons here are Public Domain.