Question

How does a Bronsted-Lowry acid/base reaction proceed?

Answer 1

`"Acid + Base "rightleftharpoons" Conjugate base + conjugate acid"`

Explanation:

And to expand.....

`HCl(g)` is a source of hydronium ion, `H_3O^+` in aqueous solution.........

We may take a tank of `HCl(g)`, and we can bleed it in to water to give an AQUEOUS solution that we could represent as `HCl(aq)` OR `H_3O^+` and `Cl^−`, the which are the `"conjugate acid"`, and `"conjugate base"` respectively.

`HCl(g) stackrel(H_2O)rarrunderbrace(H_3O^(+))_("hydronium ion") +Cl^-`

In each case this is a REPRESENTATION of what occurs in solution. If we bleed enuff gas in, we achieve saturation at a concentration of approx. `10.6*mol*L^-1` with respect to hydrochloric acid.

As far as anyone knows, the actual acidium ion in solution is
`H_5O_2^+` or `H_7O_3^+`, i.e. a cluster of 2 or 3 or 4 water molecules with an EXTRA `H^+` tacked on. We represent it in solution (without loss of generality) as `H_3O^+`, the `"hydronium ion"`, which is clearly the conjugate acid of `H_2O`. Representation of the acidium species as the protium ion, `H^+`, is also still very common.

Note that the `H^+` is quite mobile, and passes, tunnels if you like, the extra `H^+` from cluster to cluster. If you have ever played rugby, I have always liked to compare to this to when the forwards form a maul, and can pass the pill from hand to hand to the back of the maul while the maul is still formed. Of course, tunnelling, proton transfer, is more likely in a cluster of water molecules, so the analogy might not be particularly apt in that there is definite transfer of a ball in a maul, but a charge in a water cluster is conceivably tunnelled. The same applies to the transfer of an hydroxide ion. For this reason both `H^+` and `HO^-` have substantial mobility in aqueous solution, and much greater mobility in solution than ions such as `Na^+`, etc.

`H^(+) + e^(-) rarr 1/2H_2(g)`

Depending at which level you are at (and I don't know!, which is part of the problem in answering questions on this site), you might not have to know the details at this level of sophistication. The level I have addressed here is probably 1st/2nd year undergrad.........