Question

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

Answer 1

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)`