Redox Reactions: Reduction and Oxidation

MCAT Basics (from MedSchoolCoach)

MedSchoolCoach

Science

4.6 • 612 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Redox reactions or reduction and oxidation are reactions in which electrons are simultaneously transferred from one chemical species to another. This episode begins with exploring this concept, including an in-depth look at oxidizing and reducing agents and the factors determining a compound's effectiveness as an oxidizing agent.

It also covers the oxidation states of molecules and functional groups, common redox reagents in organic chemistry, and the role of redox in biological systems. The episode also addresses numerical concepts from general chemistry related to redox, such as determining oxidation numbers and understanding electrochemical cells.

Visit MedSchoolCoach.com for more help with the MCAT.

[00:00] Introduction

[01:09] What is the conceptual definition of redox

[06:22] What is an oxidizing agent, and what is a reducing agent?

[08:50] What makes a molecule better than another at being an oxidizing agent or a reducing agent?

[13:58] Which oxidation reduction reagents should you know and what do they

[21:44] Redox in biological systems

[35:01] How to determine the oxidation state

[41:16] The application of oxidation-reduction in electrochemical cells

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to MCAT basics, your ultimate guide to the essential topics you need to master for the MCAT.
0:06.0	Brought to you by the physicians at med school coach.
0:09.0	Every week, Sam Smith breaks down high-yield MCAT topics, ensuring you're primed for success on test day.
0:15.0	Join Sam as we explore the most crucial subjects outlined by the AAMC, pulled from official practice materials and
0:21.8	third-party resources.
0:23.3	Get ready to elevate your MCAT game with topics tailored to maximize your score potential.
0:28.4	Hello, I'm Sam Smith.
0:31.1	This podcast is going to cover redox or a reduction in oxidation, and it's broken down into
0:36.5	two main sections. So first, I'll go into
0:39.3	more of a conceptual understanding what redox is. And then second, I'll go into more of a mathematical
0:44.2	or gen chem kind of understanding of what redox is. In the first or a more conceptual part of this
0:51.2	podcast, I'm going to talk about the general definitions of, you know,
0:54.8	what is an oxidizing agent, what's a reducing agent, what does it mean to oxidize something,
0:58.3	what does it mean to reduce something? I'll talk about how oxidation and reduction play a role
1:03.8	in determining the reactivity of functional groups, as well as I'll get into a little bit of organic
1:08.6	chemistry there, of like which oxidation reduction reagents you should know and what they do.
1:13.5	And then lastly, I'll talk about redox in biological systems.
1:17.1	And that will be hopefully the most interesting part of the podcast.
1:20.0	In the second part of the podcast, I'll talk about how to determine oxidation state
1:24.5	and assigning oxidation numbers to certain molecules, certain atoms. And then I'll
1:29.8	talk about the application of oxidation and reduction in electrochemical cells. And this episode is
1:35.0	going to be a twofer because I'm going to cover topics that are on both the bio-biocem section as
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MedSchoolCoach, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of MedSchoolCoach and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.