can an oxidative state be a fraction
exists and is an alternate of . No. it can't be fractional. However you can get fractional answers uch as Fe in Fe3O4 where the average oxidation state is 2.666.... You need to know something about the structure that will tell you what oxidation numbers of the Fe in this case two Fe with +3 and one Fe with +2 in each formula unit. No. it can't be fractional. <br /><br /> However you can get fractional answers uch as Fe in Fe3O4 where the average oxidation state is 2.666.... You need to know something about the structure that will tell you what oxidation numbers of the Fe in this case two Fe with +3 and one Fe with +2 in each formula unit.