Oxidation-reduction equilibriumin glass

Abstract

Oxidation is the loss of an electron and reduction is the reverse: $F{e^{3 + }} + electronF{e^{2 + }}$ Oxidation and reduction are complementary; without one the other cannot take place. The simultaneous occurrence of reduction and oxidation is commonly known as a 'redox process'. When a metal, M forms an oxide MOx, it can be visualized that the metal electrons are transferred to the empty 2p orbitals of the oxygen atom and thus the elementary steps of the reaction can be hypothetically written as:

$$M \to {M^{2x + }} + electrons$$

(oxidation)

$$ xO + 2xelectrons \to x{O^{2 - }}$$

(reduction)

However, in reality some oxides may be quite covalent involving no actual electron transfer from the metal to the oxygen.