What is the Oxidation Number of Phosphorus?

Answers:- The oxidation number generally means the power of an atomic compound to lose or gain one or more electrons to get a stable configuration. Phosphorus is the element with 15 as atomic number. In phosphorus 5 electrons are present in the final valence shell according to which two electrons are there in the subshell of s as well as 3 are there in the subshell of p. Therefore, to become stable it has to lose all 5 electrons or gain 3 more electrons. Thus, the phosphorus oxidation number varies from -3 –  +5.