Why are neutralization reactions written with H3O+ instead of H+?
If a free hydrogen ion encounters a water molecule, it attacks the unshared electron pairs on the oxygen in the water molecule and forms a hydronium ion, H3O+. The chemical bond that forms between the water and hydrogen ion is covalent and very strong. In an aqueous solution, essentially all of the H+ exists as H3O+. When people write “H+(aq)” in a chemical equation, it’s understood that they really mean “H3O+(aq)”. Writing hydrogen ions rather than hydronium ions makes neutralization equations a little easier to read and balance. Author: Fred Senese senese@antoine.frostburg.
