How do conservation of mass and conservation of charge apply in an acid-base reaction....?

1 Answer
anor277
Oct 3, 2016

Mass and charge are conserved in every chemical reaction, so.........

Explanation:

So if a proton, #H^+#, is added, the mass and charge will increase by one unit each.

We can demonstrate this by looking at water's autoprotolysis reaction:

#2H_2O rightleftharpoonsH_3O^+ + HO^-#

One water molecule receives a proton, and the donor formally loses a proton. Are mass and charge conserved here? If not they should be.

Related questions
See all questions in Net Charge
Impact of this question
1699 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License