OXIDATION-REDUCTION REACTIONS

Most people have heard the term "oxidation" at some point or another, and, from the sound of the word, may have developed the impression that it has something to do with oxygen. Indeed it does, because oxygen has a tendency to draw electrons to itself. This tendency, rather than the presence of oxygen itself, is actually what identifies oxidation, defined as a process in which a substance loses electrons. The oxidation of one substance is always accompanied by reduction, or the gaining of electrons, on the part of another substance—hence the term "oxidation-reduction reaction," sometimes called a redox reaction. The world is full of examples of this highly significant form of chemical reaction. One such example is combustion, or an even more rapid form of combustion, explosion. Likewise the metabolism of food, as well as other biological processes, involves oxidation and reduction reactions. So, too, do a number of processes that take place on the surfaces of metals: when iron rusts; when copper turns green; or when aluminum forms a coating of aluminum oxide that prevents it from rusting. Oxidation-reduction reactions also play a major role in electrochemistry, which has a highly useful application to daily life in the form of batteries.