Oxidizing & Reducing Agents: Electron Exchange Demystified

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Oxidizing agent :

In chemistry, an oxidizing agent (oxidant, oxidizer) is a substance that has the ability to oxidize other substances (cause them to lose electrons).

Examples :

Common oxidizing agents are oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and halogens.

In one sense, an oxidizing agent is a chemical species that undergoes a chemical reaction that removes one or more electrons from another atom. In that sense, it is one component in an oxidation–reduction (redox) reaction.

In the second sense, an oxidizing agent is a chemical species that transfers electronegative atoms, usually oxygen, to a substrate. Combustion, many explosives, and organic redox reactions involve atom-transfer reactions.