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.

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