Chemistry help ASAP please

<p>So I'm just finishing up redox reactions. I still don't understand one thing though. How does an acidic or basic environment affect the products formed by the redox reactions? For example, MnO4- has like 4 diff states, and Mn2+ happens to dominate if permanganate is in an acidic solution, whereas if it's in either a neutral or basic solution, MnO2 does.</p>

<p>I need an answer ASAP because I have a test today. This part is the only principle i'm not sure about.</p>

<p>Do we actually need to know this much in detail? o_O</p>