The balanced chemical equation for the reaction between hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is:
HCl + NaOH → NaCl + H2O
In this reaction, hydrochloric acid reacts with sodium hydroxide to produce sodium chloride (common table salt) and water. To balance this equation, we observe that there is one hydrogen ion (H+) from HCl and one hydroxide ion (OH–) from NaOH that combine to form one water molecule (H2O). The sodium (Na+) from NaOH and the chloride (Cl–) from HCl come together to form sodium chloride (NaCl). Since there is a one-to-one ratio of the reactants and products, the equation is already balanced.