Answer:
Zinc is the oxidized substance and therefore the reducing agent.
Copper is the reduced substance and therefore the oxidizing agent.
Explanation:
Hello.
In this case, since the following chemical reaction is a redox one because the oxidation states of the species there are changed, the first step is to assign the oxidation states for all the species there as shown below:
[tex]Zn^0(s)+Cu^{2+}(aq)\rightarrow Zn^{2+}(aq)+Cu^0(s)[/tex]
Since metallic zinc a copper are pure elements so they are not oxidized. Now, since zinc increases its oxidation state from 0 to +2, we infer zinc is the oxidized substance and therefore the reducing agent. Moreover, since copper decreases its oxidation state from +2 to 0, we infer copper is the reduced substance and therefore the oxidizing agent.
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