What is the product of Hydrogen + Bicarbonate?
Reacting hydrogen ion from an acid with bicarbonate ion from a solution of sodium bicarbonate, for example, will produce carbon dioxide. It will NOT produce H2CO3. There are no molecules of H2CO3 in aqueous solution. They simply don’t exist in water. Any molecule of H2CO3 that might form will IMMEDIATELY decompose to make either H+ and HCO3- or more likely, CO2 and H2O. In fact, what we call “carbonic acid” is actually a solution of carbon dioxide dissolved in water. The following equilibrium exists. CO2(aq) + H2O <==> H+ + HCO3- The equilibrium lies far to the left, meaning that there is a lot of dissolved CO2 and very few H+ ions and HCO3- ions.
