Chemistry in Water
When chlorine is added to water, it reacts to form a pH dependent equilibrium mixture of chlorine, hypochlorous acid and hydrochloric acid :
- Cl2 + H2O → HOCl + HCl
Depending on the pH, hypochlorous acid partly dissociates to hydrogen and hypochlorite ions:
- HOCl → H+ + ClO-
In acidic solution, the major species are Cl2 and HOCl while in alkaline solution effectively only ClO- is present. Very small concentrations of ClO2-, ClO3-, ClO4- are also found.
Read more about this topic: Chlorination
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