Consider this reaction: acid base + salt water. What type of reaction is this?

1 Answer
Sep 2, 2017

This is a #"neutralization reaction......"#

Explanation:

And this represents the reaction that acids and bases undergo in water......

An acid is a species that increases concentrations of the characteristic cation of water, i.e. #H_3O^+#, #"the hydronium ion"#; this is a conceptual species, which as far as we know is a cluster of water molecules WITH an EXTRA proton associated; i.e. #H_5O_2^+# or #H_7O_3^+#; we REPRESENT this acidium species as #H^+# or more commonly #H_3O^+#.

And a base is species that increases concentrations of the characteristic anion of water, i.e. #HO^-#; and we conceive of this as a water molecule LESS a proton.

In water we know that the concentrations of hydronium and hydroxide ions are governed by the equilibrium:

#2H_2O(l)rightleftharpoonsH_3O^+ + HO^-#, where at #298*K# we have the equilibrium.....#[H_3O^+][HO^-]=10^-14#.

And so we can write concrete examples of the given equilibrium....

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

#2HCl(aq) + Ca(OH)_2(aq) rarr CaCl_2(aq) + 2H_2O(l)#