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For instance, when an acid dissolves in water, a covalent bond between an electronegative atom and a hydrogen atom is broken by heterolytic fission, which gives a proton (H +) and a negative ion. Dissociation is the opposite of association or recombination .
Electrolytes dissociate in water because water molecules are dipoles and the dipoles orient in an energetically favorable manner to solvate the ions. In other systems, the electrode reactions can involve the metals of the electrodes as well as the ions of the electrolyte.
A weak base is a base that, upon dissolution in water, does not dissociate completely, so that the resulting aqueous solution contains only a small proportion of hydroxide ions and the concerned basic radical, and a large proportion of undissociated molecules of the base.
Bases and acids are seen as chemical opposites because the effect of an acid is to increase the hydronium (H 3 O +) concentration in water, whereas bases reduce this concentration. A reaction between aqueous solutions of an acid and a base is called neutralization , producing a solution of water and a salt in which the salt separates into its ...
Acids and bases are aqueous solutions, as part of their Arrhenius definitions. [1] An example of an Arrhenius acid is hydrogen chloride (HCl) because of its dissociation of the hydrogen ion when dissolved in water. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is an Arrhenius base because it dissociates the hydroxide ion when it is dissolved in water. [3]
The hydroxide ion OH −, a well known base, is here acting as the conjugate base of the acid water. Acids and bases are thus regarded simply as donors and acceptors of protons respectively. A broader definition of acid dissociation includes hydrolysis, in which protons are produced by the splitting of water molecules.
The water molecule is amphoteric in aqueous solution. It can either gain a proton to form a hydronium ion H 3 O +, or else lose a proton to form a hydroxide ion OH −. [5] Another possibility is the molecular autoionization reaction between two water molecules, in which one water molecule acts as an acid and another as a base.
In chemistry, hydronium (hydroxonium in traditional British English) is the cation [H 3 O] +, also written as H 3 O +, the type of oxonium ion produced by protonation of water.It is often viewed as the positive ion present when an Arrhenius acid is dissolved in water, as Arrhenius acid molecules in solution give up a proton (a positive hydrogen ion, H +) to the surrounding water molecules (H 2 O).