Reduction
MCAT glossary · Psychological, Social & Biological Foundations of Behavior
Definition
The gain of electrons by a species; a decrease in oxidation state.
Reduction in plain English
Reduction just means a substance GAINS electrons. It sounds backwards that 'gaining' is called reduction, but the name refers to the atom's oxidation state (a bookkeeping number for its charge) going DOWN — grab negative electrons and your charge number drops. An easy memory hook: 'reduction is gain' — think of a greedy player pulling chips toward themselves; whatever gains electrons is reduced, and this always pairs with something else losing them (oxidation).
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