So recall that redox reactions are chemical reactions that involve the transfer of electrons from one atom to another atom. Now, this means one atom is oxidized and one atom is reduced. So that means any redox reaction can be broken down into two types of reactions an oxidation reactions, in which an atom loses electrons and a reduction reaction, in which atoms gain electrons. So let's look at a very simple redox reaction. So, zinc metal reacts with aqueous copper to produce aqueous zinc and metal copper. So let's break this reaction into an oxidation and a reduction reaction.