The phenomenon of gaining electrons by an atom is called Reduction. A complementary process, of losing electrons, is called oxidation. Generally, these two processes take place together, that is, an atom loses electron and another atom gains this electron. The atom that loses electron is said to have been oxidized, while the atom that gains the electron is said to be reduced. For example, in the reaction between a metal and a non-metal, such as sodium and chlorine:
`Na + Cl -> Na^+ + Cl^(-) -> NaCl`
The metal donates an electron and gets oxidized, forming sodium cation. The chlorine atom gains the electron that has been donated by sodium atom and gets reduced (and form chloride anion). There are several other such examples of oxidation-reduction reactions from our daily life.
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