Question

14. Assertion: Oxidation number of phosphorus in P4 is zero.
Reason: Phosphorus has oxidation state zero in all its compound.
a Bothassertionant reasonare CORRECTandreasonis the CORRECT explanation of
the assertion.
b. Both assertion and reasonare CORRECT but, reason is NOT THE CORRECT
explanation of theassertion.
C. Assertion is CORRECT but, reason is INCORRECT,
d. Assertion is INCORRECT but, reason is CORRECT.​

Answer 1

Explanation:

Ans b is the correct one

Answer 2

The answer to the question is option C ( the assertion is correct but the reason is incorrect).

• The oxidation states of covalent compounds are calculated on the basis of their bonding.
• In a covalent bond, the more electropositive element gets a +1 oxidation state while the electronegative element gets -1 oxidation state for every bond.If bond is between the same elements, both gets a zero oxidation state per bond.
• Since in P4, all the bonds formed by phosphorus is with itself only, the oxidation state is zero.
• Phosphorus can have othe oxidation states too, like it exhibits a +3 oxidation state in PCl3.