So, I am a high school student and I'm a little more involved with Chemistry than my fellow classmates you kind of have a... Hate towards it. I've learned all sorts of things like aromatics, carboxylic acids, acids and bases and how they work and so much more on my own. But something I just simply have so much trouble understanding, that is so simple...
Why do reactions even occur?
Yeah, I know, so simple right? It may seem to have a simple answer, but I want so much more detail needs to be invested in this answer. A simple reaction that you just completely understand is Na + Cl. No duh! Electron donor and taker! That's easy! But that's not the kind of reactions I mean. I mean reactions that involve things like NaOH + CaBr2.
I ended up learning that these substances can react when put into a solvent, most of time I'm pretty sure it's going to be water. They then disassociate and become electrolytes which then can react, their cations and anions switching. That makes perfect sense. But how can things like HCl, an extremely strong acid, dissolve and react with things without that solvent? The H can't disassociate into H+ and it therefor can't react, right? So how does it even react? It doesn't make much sense to me.
Thanks for answers,
Carboxyluke
But how can things like HCl, an extremely strong acid, dissolve and react with things without that solvent? The H can't disassociate into H+ and it therefor can't react, right? So how does it even react? It doesn't make much sense to me.
Thanks for answers,
Carboxyluke
With the acid I guess you could say the solvent (or the medium for the reaction) is water? The reactions only take place on the surfaces of solids in the acid as this is where the molecules physically meet... as the solid dissolves or reacts into the acid it is being dissolved... the acid itself is the solvent in a way.
A solvent isn't strictly necessary. Two solids can react. They will react at the surfaces where they touch only... if they are powdered then there will be more of a reaction when the powders are mixed due to more surface area of each substance being able to come into contact with the surfaces of other powdered particles. In solution you have all of the molecules from each solid free to move about in the solution, which gives much easier access for the reactants to come into physical contact with each other.
Why do reactions even occur?
With ALL reactions, chemical or physical, it is all about finding the most energetically stable arrangement for the molecules and atoms involved.
I answered in short - you could go into so much more detail - you could write a book about the subject even.