What is the real concept behind oxidation state?
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1Title and body don't cooperate here well... You should elaborate. – Mithoron Mar 01 '17 at 21:35
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https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/69798/an-introduction-to-oxidation-state-oxidation-number – Mithoron Oct 29 '19 at 21:45
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Nothing too much, really. When you have a compound like sodium tetrathionate $\ce{Na_2S_4O_6}$, if you calculate the oxidation state of sulfur, you get $\frac{5}{2}$. This means that the AVERAGE oxigation state of sulfur is $\frac{5}{2}$. In fact, the sulfurs in the compound are not equal, you have two of them with an oxidation state of $+5$, and two of them with $0$. But when you balance redox equations, you do not really care about this, and you can use the average value of $2.5$ to find the coefficients.