Video Transcript
Consider the reaction two Na solid
plus two HCl aqueous react. What is the name of the salt
produced during this reaction?
In this question, we need to
identify the salt compound formed as sodium reacts with hydrochloric acid. Let’s start by describing the
generic chemical equation for the reaction of a metal and an acid.
When a metallic element reacts with
an acidic substance, the products are a salt solution and hydrogen gas. A salt is an ionic compound made up
of cations and anions. The cation of the salts originates
from the metal, while the anion originates from the acid.
Let’s now consider the reaction
between sodium metal and hydrochloric acid. The salt produced would contain
sodium cations and chloride anions. The cations and anions will combine
in a ratio of one to one to produce the neutral salt NaCl. The second product would be
hydrogen gas. The overall balanced chemical
equation for the reaction is two Na solid plus two HCl aqueous react to form two
NaCl aqueous plus H2 gas. This reaction is surprisingly
intense because sodium is a highly reactive metal.
We can look at a series of chemical
activity to see that sodium is more reactive than most other metallic elements. This violent reaction usually
generates flames, and the sodium moves rapidly along the surface of the acid, making
a lot of sound and gas. The reaction thus gives off heat
and hydrogen gas, in addition to producing the salt NaCl, which is called sodium
chloride.
Therefore, the name of the salt
produced during this reaction is sodium chloride.
