Question

In a chemical reaction, an iron atom became the ion fe2 . what happened to the iron atom?

a. it lost electrons and was oxidized.
b. it lost electrons and was reduced.
c. it gained electrons and was oxidized.
d. it gained electrons and was reduced.

Answer 1

An iron atom has a charge of zero. It's charge increases to 2+. Due to the increase in oxidation state, the atom is said to be oxidised. Oxidation occurs when an atom loses electrons.
Hence, the answer is (a).

Answer 2

Answer: a. it lost electrons and was oxidized.

Explanation: In a chemical reaction, there is one species which loses its electrons and the others species will always accept electrons.

The species which lose electrons will get oxidized and the species which accept electrons will gets oxidized.

This chemical reaction is specifically known as Redox reaction in which one species gets reduced and the other one will get oxidized.

In the given reaction, Iron atom become the cation
`Fe^(2+)`, thus getting oxidized

`Fe\rightarrow Fe^(2+) + 2e`