Question #ca019

2 Answers
Apr 30, 2017

It undergoes heterolytic fission whereby the Cl atom gains both the shared electrons.

Explanation:

In aqueous medium, #HCl# dissociates to form #H^+# and #Cl^-# ions. This happens when the covalent H-Cl bond breaks.

Reaction of #HCl# with #NaOH# will give #Na^+ + Cl^(-) + H_2O#.

Apr 30, 2017

Well, it breaks..............

Explanation:

We would describe the bond in hydrogen chloride as polar covalent, i.e. #""^(+delta)H-Cl^(delta-)#. Now hydrogen chloride is a room temperature gas, but the gas is VERY soluble in water to give hydrochloric acid, in which ionization is conceived to have occurred:

#H-Cl(g) + H_2O(l) rarr H_3O^(+) + Cl^-#

And we could represent the reaction of hydrogen chloride with sodium hydroxide as:

#HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) rarr NaCl(aq) + H_2O(l)#

In aqueous solution, the #(aq)# represents the aquated ion, i.e. #Na^(+)(aq) -=[Na(OH_2)_6]^+#.