What is the balanced chemical equation that describes the reaction between ammonia and hydrochloric acid?
1 Answer
Explanation:
Ammonia and hydrochloric acid will react to form aqueous ammonium chloride,
"NH"_ (3(aq)) + "HCl"_ ((aq)) -> "NH"_ 4"Cl"_ ((aq))NH3(aq)+HCl(aq)→NH4Cl(aq)
Now, hydrochloric acid is a strong acid, which means that it dissociates completely in aqueous solution to release hydrogen ions,
"HCl"_ ((aq)) -> "H"_ ((aq))^(+) + "Cl" _((aq))^(-)HCl(aq)→H+(aq)+Cl−(aq)
Ammonium chloride is a soluble ionic compound, so it too will exist as ions in solution.
This means that the complete ionic equation that describes this reaction can be written like this
"NH"_ (3(aq)) + "H"_ ((aq))^(+) + "Cl" _ ((aq))^(-) -> "NH"_ (4(aq))^(+) + "Cl"_ ((aq))^(-)NH3(aq)+H+(aq)+Cl−(aq)→NH+4(aq)+Cl−(aq)
To get the net ionic equation, you must remove the spectator ions, i.e. the ions present on both sides of the equation
"NH"_ (3(aq)) + "H"_ ((aq))^(+) + color(red)(cancel(color(black)("Cl" _ ((aq))^(-)))) -> "NH"_ (4(aq))^(+) + color(red)(cancel(color(black)("Cl" _ ((aq))^(-))))
You will end up with
"NH"_ (3(aq)) + "H"_ ((aq))^(+) -> "NH"_ (4(aq))^(+)
