[dancool]

i am led to beleieve that in an acid there are H+ ions.

In the HCl atom, this is a covalent structure, yet not purely covalent due to differences in electronegativities, so the chlorine atom takes a bigger share of the shared pair of electrons, making it slightly negative meaning the hydrogen is slightly positive. is this correct.

so if this HCl is now aqeous, what happens? isn't there just molecules of HCl dissolved in water? where are the H+ ions?

thanks

[Mitch]

HCl fully dissociates to H⁺ and Cl^- in water.

[Yggdrasil]

I think its more correct to say that HCl reacts with water because HCl is a stronger acid than H₃O⁺ (or equivalently, water is a stronger base than chloride):

HCl + H₂O --> H₃O⁺ + Cl^-

[AWK]

I think its more correct to say that HCl reacts with water because HCl is a stronger acid than H₃O⁺ (or equivalently, water is a stronger base than chloride):

HCl + H₂O --> H₃O⁺ + Cl^-

Dissociation - Arrhenius
protolysis (reaction with base, in this case - water) - Bronsted
but we are discuss about the same process.

[dancool]

so just for clarification:

HCl acid, the molecules/ions present are: H+ ions, Cl- ions and water molecules?


so what is the case for sulphuric acid, do you just get H+ ions and negative sulphate ions?

[Mitch]

yes

[AWK]

so what is the case for sulphuric acid, do you just get H+ ions and negative sulphate ions?

H₂SO₄ dissociate fully only on the first step of dissociation
H₂SO₄ + H₂O = H₃O⁺ + HSO₄^-
Then H₂SO₄ partially dissocite on the second step
HSO₄^- + H₂O = H₃O⁺ + SO₄^2-
Only at the concentrations lower than ~10^-3 M sulfuric acid can be treated as fully dissociated.

Edit: formatting corrected.