if oxygen is essential to life then why is oxidation or oxidative process dangerous?
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Oxidation is a very broad term that describes the process of any atom or ion losing 1 or more electrons.
Oxidation is named after Oxygen simply because oxygen is one of the best molecules to illicit oxidation due to its high electronegativity, which means it’s really good at taking electrons from other atoms, second only to fluorine, but most natural processes use oxygen, hence ‘oxidation’. The opposite of oxidation is reduction (oxygen atoms are reduced when they steal an electron to become an oxygen ion).
Oxidation (burning) of glucose in a controlled way so our cells can harness the energy released to sustain life = good
Oxidation of the compounds forming the DNA in your cells = bad
Oxidation of anything that’s not glucose is bad. When atoms/ions lose or gain electrons, the resulting new ion usually behaves in a very different way to the original.
NaCl is salt. We like it on our chips. If you reduce the Na and oxidise the Cl in salt, you get an explosive metal and a poisonous green gas.
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