Home

Home
Common Compounds
Exam Guide
FAQ
Features
Glossary
Construction Kits
Companion Notes
Just Ask Antoine!
Simulations
Slide Index
Toolbox
Tutorial Index

FAQ
Introduction
Measurement
Matter
Atoms & ions
Compounds
Chemical change
The mole
Gases
Energy & change
The quantum theory
Electrons in atoms
The periodic table
Chemical bonds
Solids
Liquids
Solutions
Acids & bases
Redox reactions
Reaction rates
Organic chemistry
Everyday chemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Environmental chemistry
Laboratory
History of chemistry
Miscellaneous


Home :FAQ :Acids and basesPrint | Comment
Previous Question Next Question

Why can't hydrogen ions exist by themselves?


It is possible to have isolated H+ ions in the gas phase.

But if a free hydrogen ion encounters a water molecule, it attacks the unshared electron pairs on the oxygen in the water molecule and forms a hydronium ion, H3O+. The chemical bond that forms between the water and hydrogen ion is covalent and very strong. In an aqueous solution, essentially all of the H+ exists as H3O+.

When people write "H+(aq)" in a chemical equation, it's understood that they really mean "H3O+(aq)". Writing hydrogen ions rather than hydronium ions makes neutralization equations a little easier to read and balance.

Author: Fred Senese senese@antoine.frostburg.edu



General Chemistry Online! Why can't hydrogen ions exist by themselves?

Copyright © 1997-2010 by Fred Senese
Comments & questions to fsenese@frostburg.edu
Last Revised 02/23/18.URL: http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/acidbase/faq/isolated-h-ions.shtml