Assigning Oxidaton states

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[EvG]

HELP! I really don't get how to name oxidation states. Could someone help with the the following problem.

Assisgn the oxidation states for all the atoms in each of the following compound

XeOF₄

[kyle1990]

the compound is electrically neutral, so all the charges must balance out.

start by dissecting the formula:
there are:

4 fluorine atoms
1 xeonon atom
1 oxygen atom

Fluorine always has an oxidation state of -1
Oxygen generally adopts the -2 oxidation state
(hint: in this case it does not)

for the compound to be electrically neutral, the Xe and O charges must balance out the -4 charge on the four F atoms. Can you figure out what they are?

[dumples92]

If you still can't figure it out from there, just remember that because the compound is neutral, all the oxidation numbers must add out to zero. Also, Oxygen only has oxidation numbers of -1 or -2
It has an oxidation number of 0 when it is by itself, but that does not apply to this problem.