What is neutralization?

A 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##) to for m the salt ##K_2SO_4##.

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

I hope this was helpful. SMARTERTEACHER