Folmula for sodium hydroxide plus hydrochloric acid -- sodium chloride plus water?

Answer 1

Traditionally, if this reaction is taking place in solution, instead of writing

NaOH + HCl --> NaCl + H2O

you would write

OH- + H+ --> H2O

because when the compounds are in the presence of water, they do not actually attach to each other.

NaOH becomes Na+ and OH- ions, and Na+ will not attach to anything else in water.

Similarly, HCl becomes H+ and Cl- ions, and Cl- will not attach to Na+ in water. (Think about salt in water; it dissolves).

Na+ and Cl- are called "spectator ions" because they do not participate in the reaction. They are just floating around in the beaker, so scientists do not include them in the final equation. What is left is OH- and H+ ions which makes H2O.

Answer 2

Here is the BALANCED Reaction Equation.

NaOH(aq) + HCl(aq) = NaCl(aq) + H2O(l).

Answer 3

The chemical reaction between sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) forms sodium chloride (NaCl) and water (H2O). This is represented by the equation: NaOH + HCl -> NaCl + H2O