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Importance of Neutralizing
If there is ever a chemical spill, it is of great importance to neutralize it prior to cleanup. This makes the material safer to handle. Additionally, cleaning up a strong acid or strong base is a costly cleanup. Neutralizing the spill would significantly decrease the cost of disposal. Furthermore, without neutralization, the carbonic acid that is produced during breathing would stay acidic and ruin the equilibrium in an organism's body. The body contains bicarbonate, which serves as both an acid and a base in the bloodstream, thus maintaining a constant blood pH of 7.4. Similarly, hydrochloric acid is produced in the stomach and requires neutralization by bile and pancreatic fluids located in the duodenum.
The Neutralization Reaction
When an acid and base are combined, a chemical reaction occurs to form water and salt. According to Lab Manager, if an acid and base are both very strong, a violent reaction will take place. This is why a neutralizer is always very weak -- it will slow the reaction down. Even when you use a neutralizer, there will still be heat and gas emitted in the reaction.
The Process
Acids dissolve in water and produce hydronium ions (H3O+). Bases also dissolve in water and produce hydroxide ions (HO-). The hydronium ions and hydroxide ions combine to produce water molecules. The chemical reaction is expressed as H3O+ (aq) + HO-(aq) --> 2H2O. The "aq" means that the molecules are in an aqueous solution.
An Example
The overall reaction between hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide is expressed as HCl (aq) + NaOH (aq) --> NaCl (aq) + H2O. This equation accounts for all ions and molecules involved, including sodium chloride, hydrochloric acid and aqueous sodium hydroxide. For example, NaCl (sodium chloride) could be broken down into Cl- and Na+, thus providing a longer equation called a total ionic equation. The total ionic equation is expressed as H+ (aq) + Cl- (aq) + Na+ (aq) + OH- (aq) --> Na+ (aq) + Cl- (aq) + H2O.