Effects of Oxidation in Everyday Life

To understand the effects of oxidation state and its effect on everyday life we need to understand
oxidation and more so the related reaction reduction as well.
The reduction and oxidation reaction or redox reaction is a chemical reaction during which the
oxidation state of two or more of the reactants change. Oxidation reaction is not only about just
combining with oxygen.
Most redox reactions do not even involve oxygen at all.
The oxidation state of an atom or icon can be thought of as its electrical charge and in simple
terms a neutral atom is in oxidation state zero. An ion with a positive charge has a positive
oxidation state overall loses an electron and it has been oxidized to oxidation state 1+ and
becomes a positive ion.
Oxidation in the context of a redox reaction refers to the oxidation state of an atom being
increased.
Conversely reduction refers to oxidation state of an atom being reduced.
Many chemical reactions do not involve any change in oxidation state.
For example when we react aqueous solutions of copper (II) sulphate and sodium hydroxide to
form copper (II) hydroxide which precipitates and a solution of sodium sulphate forms and there
are no changes in oxidation state.

Oxidation is the process of addition of oxygen or any electronegative radical or removal of

hydrogen or electropositive radical. It’s a process in which an atom or a group of atoms taking
part in a chemical reaction loses one or more electrons.
The species which undergo the loss of electron during the reaction is called as reducing agent or
reductant.
An oxidation reaction is always couple with reduction reaction which refers as addition of
electron to the reaction species (Oxidant or oxidising agent).

These coupled reactions are known as redox reaction.

When a substance exposes to oxygen, it gets oxidised.
We can observe many oxidation reactions in our daily life like corrosion of metal, rancidity and
combustion.
Let’s discuss some of the common examples of oxidation reaction;

Combustion: it is the most common example of oxidation reaction.

Combustion or burning of any material involves oxidation reaction coupled with reduction.
The complete combustion of substance generally released carbon dioxide and water.
For example the burning of wood released a large amount of energy with carbon dioxide and
water vapour.
That energy uses for heating home, drive automobile, operate industrial processes and much
other purpose.

Corrosion: You must have seen the rusting of your car and the burning of magnesium metal in
oxygen to form magnesium oxide in your daily life are also an oxidation reaction.
Similarly rusted iron sheets or green surface of copper utensils and tableware or tarnish surface
of aluminium surfaces are also due to oxidation of metal surface.
Most of metal surfaces oxidised due to atmospheric oxygen and forms metal oxides on the
surface of metal.
For example; corrosion of iron forms iron oxide which is also called as rust.

4Fe +3O2 ==> 2Fe2O3

Similarly copper utensil gets a greenish glaze due to formation of copper oxide which grants it
strength.
The oxidation of metal surfaces may be preventing by means of painting and or by galvanization
with zinc.
Anodization, plating, painting of anti-corrosive substances or coating of corrosion inhibitors used
to prevent corrosion on metal surface. Some time sacrificial corrosion also helps to prevent
corrosion, in which more reactive metal coupled with corrode metal to stop the corrosion.
Like magnesium wire bonded on iron pipe decrease the corrosion on pipe as it starts with more
reactive magnesium metal.

Battery: We are very much familiar a highly useful application of electrochemistry in our daily
life in the form of batteries which use oxidation-reduction reactions to produce an electric
current.
For example lead storage battery mainly use in automobile contains lead as reducing agent and
lead (IV) oxide (PbO2) as oxidizing agent. Other examples are dry cell batteries, nickel-
cadmium battery etc.

Coinage metals: Copper and silver are termed as coinage metals due to their resistance to
corrosion.
As both metals become tarnish due to formation of copper oxide and silver sulphide.

Rancidity: Oxidation reactions are also responsible for the spoiling of food.
To prevent spoilage, manufacturers of food items often add preservatives, which act as reducing
agents or antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E.
Metabolisms of food, cellular respiration, regulation of enzyme in human body, photosynthesis
are also examples of oxidation reaction.

We literally cannot live without the common or everyday life oxidation reactions and here are a
few examples of those:
(a) Water purification uses redox reactions to oxidize coloured and bad tasting or otherwise not
pure or very good in taste to forms that are safe and acceptable.
(b) Bleaches used in laundry, papermaking and other processes are all basically depend upon
redox reactions to oxidize all coloured stains and impurities to colourless compounds.
(c) Metals that are all mined are basically in form of oxides. The process that help these oxides
of metals to reduce these in a positive oxidation into neutral metallic forms.
(d) The photographic film works by a redox reaction initiated by light reaction and when
photons strike the tiny grains of silver bromide cause the silver ions to reduce to microscopic
specks of metallic silver. The picture is visible after clearing away the un-reduced silver.
(e) Corrosions and rusting are another set of examples which involve reduction and oxidation
and anything made up of iron are prone to atmospheric oxygen in the presence of moisture and
forms the rust or iron oxides.
(f) The aluminium items we use in kitchen also undergo oxidation in presence of atmospheric
oxygen. The silvery colour of aluminium when these are brand new turns darkish after few days
due to the formation of the protective cover of aluminium oxide.
(g) The silver items form a protective cover over the metal and turn little dark by forming
silver oxide by reacting with atmospheric oxygen.

Everything and almost anything undergoes oxidation and some of these show stark visible
changes to make them noticeable.

How Is Oxidation Reduction Used in

Everyday Life?
By Kristyn Hammond, eHow Contributor

Redox reactions can be reduction reactions or oxidation reactions.

Oxidation reduction is essential for comfortable living, travel and your basic ability to breath.
Oxidation reduction is a form of a redox reaction, specifically a process by which oxygen is
removed from a compound. The result of an oxidation reduction reaction is often heat, but it can
also create a number of other essential compounds that you require for life.

1. Car Fuel

o Gasoline powered automobiles use an oxidation reduction process to convert

gasoline into power. The process reduces nitrogen oxide into nitrogen and oxygen,
oxidizes carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide and oxidizes hydrocarbons into
 carbon dioxide and water. The oxidation reduction system occurs simultaneously
inside of your catalytic converter in your engine, providing an efficient
conversion of fuel to energy. Newer versions of the converter increase the
efficiency of this process, but they continue to rely on the same principle process.

Heating Your House

o Your home heating system uses another form of oxidation reduction to generate
heat for your home. This process reduces hydrocarbons and oxygen into
flammable carbon dioxide and water. This reduction procedure generates energy
in the form of heat, that is used to warm your home. The oxidation reduction
process is very quick, occurring almost instantaneously in your home heating unit.
The heat release from this form of oxidation reduction process is essential for the
conversion of hydrocarbons into home utilities.

Photosynthesis

o Plants use the photosynthesis process to break down carbon dioxide and sunlight
into nourishment. This process is an oxidation reduction that separates the
hydrocarbons found in sunlight, as well as the carbon dioxide from the air. The
process produces carbohydrates for the plant, releasing excess oxygen naturally
into the environment. This form of oxidation reduction is essential for the natural
life cycle, replenishing the supply of oxygen in the air. .

Breathing

o Natural respiration is the opposite of the photosynthesis process, providing

essential oxygen to breathing animals. This process uses oxygen from the air, and
carbohydrates from your own body, in an oxidation reduction process that
supplies your body with oxygen and releases the essential carbon dioxide that
plants rely on for their survival.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_10020550_oxidation-reduction-used-everyday-

life.html#ixzz2iyjklGwI

In nature, whenever two participants interested in one another engage in a potentially explosive
encounter in which they make an "exchange," it can be exciting. For example, wind and water
can combine to form hurricanes. Chemical reactions are similar: two or more substances meet in
a glorious and sometimes tumultuous exchange that transforms them, often permanently. Redox
reactions, also called oxidation reduction reactions, are a special form of chemical reaction that
results in changes to the oxidation state of the reactants. Often, but not always, oxygen is a
participant and usually, but again not always, electrons are exchanged. Redox reactions occur
throughout our daily lives; here are some of the most common.

Fire

One of the most common "chemical reactions," combustion, is a classic redox reaction. For
example, when gasoline burns within the internal combustion engine of your car, carbon within
fuel is oxidized to carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Meanwhile, oxygen within the air
feeding your automobile engine is reduced when it combines with the hydrogen atoms of the fuel
to form water. Similar reactions occur in most other fires, like forest fires, or the more controlled
one when you light up your barbecue.

Glycolysis

Glycolysis is a process fundamental to all living creatures. It is what ultimately converts food
into usable energy. Glycolysis is a multistep reaction that involves a series of electron transfers
between molecules while releasing free energy that the organism can use for its various
metabolic and physical functions. Glycolysis is an example in which a redox reaction does not
involve the use of oxygen.

DID YOU KNOW?

The efficiency with which plants convert sunlight into usable chemical energy depends on the
frequency of the light received. At best, this efficiency reaches about 8 percent; in some
situations, it may drop to a paltry 0.1 percent. It may come as a surprise then to find that the
conversion efficiency of solar panels far outstrips photosynthesis, by a factor of as much as 5 or
more in laboratory settings. The typical mass-produced solar panel works at an efficiency of
about 15 percent.

Fermentation

You may or may not have dabbled in home-based winemaking. Fermentation is actually a
biological process that the organism, yeast, carries out. Sugars are processed by yeast using a
redox reaction to produce energy for their growth. Of course, most are more interested in one of
the "waste" products of this reaction, alcohol. Fermentation is a redox reaction that occurs
anaerobically, meaning in the absence of oxygen.

Batteries

Your typical AA or AAA battery that powers your flashlight or remote contains another common
example of how redox reactions work for you. In your typical alkaline battery, for instance, the
oxidation of zinc at the anode produces the electron flow that powers your appliance. The
electrons travel, via your appliance, to the cathode where they reduce manganese dioxide in a
classic redox reaction.

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis, probably the single most important process on the planet, ultimately makes the
energy of sunlight available in usable form to all higher-level organisms, like humans. It is
accomplished through a series of redox reactions in which energy from light is finally converted
into carbohydrates that animals and humans can feed on. Oxygen is also a vital byproduct
produced by photosynthesis.

Redox reactions appear simplistic when looked at in the form of an equation. But they are
integral to a number of processes critical to our existence. Examples of redox reactions pepper
the natural world. They are also part and parcel of our daily existence, as well as the massive
industries that power our lives.

The Effects of Oxidation Reactions

Corrosion:-

Many metals are chemically active elements and get easily affected by substances like moisture,
air, acids, etc. One must have observed iron articles that are shiny when new, but get coated with
a reddish brown powder when left for some time. This process is commonly known as rusting of
iron. The problem with iron (as well as many other metals) is that oxidation takes place and the
oxide formed does not firmly adhere to the surface of the metal causing it to flake off easily. This
eventually causes structural weakness and disintegration of the metal.

When a metal is attacked by substances around it, it is said to corrode and this process is called
corrosion. Corrosion causes deterioration of essential properties in a material.

What happens to copper vessels or artifacts when exposed to air and water? They slowly get
tarnished by acquiring a thin green oxide layer. Similarly, silver quickly acquires a thin black
oxide coating in moist air. The heaviest metal lead also tarnishes in moist weather. The black
coating on silver and the green coating on copper are examples of corrosion in which the oxides
formed strongly bond to the surface of the metal, preventing the surface from further exposure to
oxygen and consequently slowing down corrosion.

Billions of rupees are lost each year because of corrosion and a huge amount of money is spent
in prevention of corrosion and tarnishing of metals. Corrosion causes damage to car bodies,
buildings, bridges, iron railings, underground water and sewage pipes, ships and all objects made
of metals. Much of this loss is due to the corrosion of iron and steel, although many other metals
may corrode as well. You will learn more about corrosion in Chapter 3.
Sub Topics

 Activity

 Suggested answer:

 Rancidity

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Activity
Back to Top

Take a new iron nail, a gold item (ring or chain) and a silver item (ring or chain) during rainy
weather. See that these are exposed to the effects of moist weather for a few days (3 to 4 days).

1) What changes are observed to all these items in the moist air?

2) How will you know which metal is more reactive?

Suggested answer:
Back to Top

With 3 to 4 days of exposure to moist air (rainy days), the iron nail will form a coat of rust (a
reddish brown coating of ferrous oxide); the silver will acquire a very thin coating of blackish
silver oxide and become dull; gold does not undergo any change and remains the same. Thus, it
is seen that iron and silver are more reactive to moist air than gold.

Rancidity
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Have you ever tasted or smelt the fat/oil containing food materials left for a long time? This
unpleasant change in the flavor and odour of a food is called rancidity. The most important cause
of rancidity is the deterioration in fats and fatty foods because of oxidation process. When an
oxygen atom replace hydrogen atom in the fatty acid molecule it destabilizes the molecule.
Factors which accelerate fat oxidation include, salt, light, water, bacteria, moulds trace metals
(iron, zinc, etc.).
Usually substances which retard fat oxidation or rancidity are called antioxidants (such as BHT,
BHA, vitamin E, and vitamin C, and spices such as sage and rosemary). These are added to foods
containing fats and oil to prevent such spoiling. Keeping food in air tight containers or air tight
wrapping also helps to slow down oxidation.

Remember

Some high fat foods such as potato chips are packaged in materials that
protect them from light and oxygen and the containers are flooded with
nitrogen to further exclude oxygen. At times, to avoid the presence of oxygen
altogether, vacuum packaging is used in some processed foodstuff.