Why does neutralization occur?

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1 Answer
BRIAN M. · Priya
May 14, 2014

A neutralization reaction is very much like a double replacement reaction. However, in a neutralization reaction, the reactants are always an acid and a base and the products are always a salt and water.

The basic reaction for a double replacement react takes the following format:

#AB + CD -> CB + AD#

We will look at an example as Sulfuric Acid and Potassium Hydroxide neutralize each other in the following reaction:

#H_2SO_4 + 2KOH -> K_2SO_4 + 2H_2O#

In a neutralization reaction between an acid and a base, the typical outcome is a salt formed by the positive ion from the base and the negative ion from the acid. In this case, the positive potassium ion (#K^+#) and the polyatomic sulfate (#SO_4#) together form the salt #K_2SO_4#.

The positive hydrogen (#H^+#) from the acid and the negative hydroxide ion (#OH^-#) from the base form the water molecule #HOH# or #H_2O#.

I hope this was helpful.
SMARTERTEACHER


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