Arrhenius Acids and Bases
Neutralizations with Arrhenius acids and bases always produce water.
- YOH + HX → XY + H2O
Y and X represent a monovalent cation and anion respectively. XY would be the salt produced. An example reaction of this form is the reaction between sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, where sodium is Y and chlorine is X:
- HCl + NaOH → NaCl + H2O
Water and common table salt are produced.
The reaction can also be considered as a net ionic equation:
- H+ + OH- → H2O
This representation is inaccurate, however, as the hydrogen ion (H+) does not actually occur in solution during a neutralization. In fact, the hydronium ion (H3O+) occurs, produced by the following reaction:
- H+ + H2O → H3O+
Considering the hydronium ion, the actual net ionic reaction occurring is:
- H3O+ + OH- → 2H2O
Read more about this topic: Neutralization (chemistry)
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