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Concept
Hydronium
Summary
In chemistry, hydronium (hydroxonium in traditional British English) is the common name for the aqueous cation , the type of oxonium ion produced by protonation of water. It is often viewed as the positive ion present when an Arrhenius acid is dissolved in water, as Arrhenius acid molecules in solution give up a proton (a positive hydrogen ion, ) to the surrounding water molecules (). In fact, acids must be surrounded by more than a single water molecule in order to ionize, yielding aqueous and conjugate base. Three main structures for the aqueous proton have garnered experimental support: the Eigen cation, which is a tetrahydrate, H3O+(H2O)3, the Zundel cation, which is a symmetric dihydrate, H+(H2O)2, and the Stoyanov cation, an expanded Zundel cation, which is a hexahydrate: H+(H2O)2(H2O)4. Spectroscopic evidence from well-defined IR spectra overwhelmingly supports the Stoyanov cation as the predominant form. For this reason, it has been suggested that wherever possible, the symbol H+(aq) should be used instead of the hydronium ion.
The molar concentration of hydronium or ions determines a solution's pH according to
where M = mol/L. The concentration of hydroxide ions analogously determines a solution's pOH. The molecules in pure water auto-dissociate into aqueous protons and hydroxide ions in the following equilibrium:
In pure water, there is an equal number of hydroxide and ions, so it is a neutral solution. At , pure water has a pH of 7 and a pOH of 7 (this varies when the temperature changes: see self-ionization of water). A pH value less than 7 indicates an acidic solution, and a pH value more than 7 indicates a basic solution.
According to IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry, the hydronium ion should be referred to as oxonium. Hydroxonium may also be used unambiguously to identify it.
An oxonium ion is any ion with a trivalent oxygen cation. For example, a protonated hydroxyl group is an oxonium ion, but not a hydronium ion.
Since and N have the same number of electrons, is isoelectronic with ammonia.
Official source
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