In which of the following compounds, an element exhibits two different oxidation states.

We find out the oxidation number for Nitrogen for all options by using the unknown oxidation state method.

(i) NH2OH


x= -1


(ii) NH4NO3


In this compound there are two nitrogen atoms bonded to two different types of groups. So we consider one molecular group at a time. We first consider NH4+ as an ion and find out oxidation number for the other N atom. The oxidation number of NH4 is +1.


x= +5


Now we know that for NO3 the oxidation number is -1


x= -3


Thus N has two oxidation states -3 and +5. This was possible because there were two kids of molecules available for nitrogen to bond.



As in case of option (iii) & (iv) nitrogen is bonded to only hydrogen so by same calculations as above the oxidation number for N2H4 is -2 and that for N3H is -1/3. The fraction -1/3 shows that one valence electron is being shared between three N atoms in N3H.

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