Where in the periodic table are the best reducing agents found? The best oxidizing agents?

Question

Accepted Answer

Hello everyone in this problem, we're being told that the best reducing agents are located in the lowest right part of the PR table, while the best oxidizing agents are found in the top left part of the pR table. So is this statement true or false? Well, first for the loss of electron there's going to be an oxidation. We're just done by a reducing agent. Now for the again of electron this is going to be a reduction. This is done by an oxygenating or oxidation agent. So the best reducing agent is an element that is easily oxidized or easily loses an electron. On the other hand, the best oxidizing agent is an element that is easily reduce are easily gains an electron. So the ease to gain or remove an electron from an element is related to of course it's size is also related to the other metals that tend to lose electrons and non metals are more likely to lose electrons. So the electron will be further away from the nucleus from an element with a larger size. So the electrons will experience less attraction with the nucleus since you know obviously that the opposites attract. And because the electrons will experience less attraction with the nucleus and will require less energy to remove the outermost electron and therefore the larger elements will be easier to oxidize and are stronger reducing agents. For elements with smaller sizes, the electrons are closer to the nucleus so they will have a tear bound to the nucleus and will require more energy to remove an electron from it. So they are hard to oxidize. Small elements will most likely gain electrons and will be oxidizing agent, not including the noble gasses. So larger metals are found in the lowest right part of the table, while the smaller non metals are found in the top left part of the PR table. Therefore the best reducing agents are the lowest left part of the table, while the best oxidizing agents are found in the top right part of the PR table. So not including of course the noble gasses as we said. Therefore, the statement that reads the best reducing agents that are located in the lowest right part of the table and the best of daisy agents are found in the top part or top left part of the PR table is going to be false. So you can say that the statement here is false and this answer right here is going to be my final answer for this problem.

Where in the periodic table are the best reducing agents found? The best oxidizing agents?

Verified Solution

Key Concepts

Reducing Agents

Oxidizing Agents

Periodic Trends