why cannot fluorine attain the oxidation states of +4 and +6 ?
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Explaining what oxidation states (oxidation numbers) are
Oxidation states simplify the whole process of working out what is being oxidised and what is being reduced in redox reactions. However, for the purposes of this introduction, it would be helpful if you knew about:
oxidation and reduction in terms of electron transfer
electron-half-equations
Note: If you aren't sure about either of these things, you might want to look at the pages on redox definitions and electron-half-equations. It would probably be best to read on and come back to these links if you feel you need to.
We are going to look at some examples from vanadium chemistry. If you don't know anything about vanadium, it doesn't matter in the slightest.
Vanadium forms a number of different ions - for example, V2+ and V3+. If you think about how these might be produced from vanadium metal, the 2+ ion will be formed by oxidising the metal by removing two electrons:
The vanadium is now said to be in an oxidation state of +2.
Removal of another electron
Oxidation states simplify the whole process of working out what is being oxidised and what is being reduced in redox reactions. However, for the purposes of this introduction, it would be helpful if you knew about:
oxidation and reduction in terms of electron transfer
electron-half-equations
Note: If you aren't sure about either of these things, you might want to look at the pages on redox definitions and electron-half-equations. It would probably be best to read on and come back to these links if you feel you need to.
We are going to look at some examples from vanadium chemistry. If you don't know anything about vanadium, it doesn't matter in the slightest.
Vanadium forms a number of different ions - for example, V2+ and V3+. If you think about how these might be produced from vanadium metal, the 2+ ion will be formed by oxidising the metal by removing two electrons:
The vanadium is now said to be in an oxidation state of +2.
Removal of another electron
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