The general form for the simplest type of acid-base reaction is:
A) Acid plus base to salt plus water.
In this reaction, an acid reacts with a base to produce a salt and water. This process is known as neutralization. For example, when hydrochloric acid (HCl) reacts with sodium hydroxide (NaOH), the products formed are sodium chloride (NaCl) and water (H2O). This can be represented by the equation:
HCl + NaOH → NaCl + H2O
This equation illustrates the essential characteristics of acid-base reactions, where the hydrogen ions (H+) from the acid combine with the hydroxide ions (OH–) from the base to form water, while the remaining ions form the salt.