Editing Acid (section)

===Neutralization===
[[Image:Hydrochloric acid ammonia.jpg|thumb|[[Hydrochloric acid]] (in [[beaker (glassware)|beaker]]) reacting with [[ammonia]] fumes to produce [[ammonium chloride]] (white smoke)]]
[[Neutralization (chemistry)|Neutralization]] is the reaction between an acid and a base, producing a [[salt (chemistry)|salt]] and neutralized base; for example, [[hydrochloric acid]] and [[sodium hydroxide]] form [[sodium chloride]] and water:
:HCl<sub>(aq)</sub> + NaOH<sub>(aq)</sub> → H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>(l)</sub> + NaCl<sub>(aq)</sub>

Neutralization is the basis of [[titration]], where a [[pH indicator]] shows equivalence point when the equivalent number of moles of a base have been added to an acid. It is often wrongly assumed that neutralization should result in a solution with pH 7.0, which is only the case with similar acid and base strengths during a reaction.

Neutralization with a base weaker than the acid results in a weakly acidic salt. An example is the weakly acidic [[ammonium chloride]], which is produced from the strong acid [[hydrogen chloride]] and the weak base [[ammonia]]. Conversely, neutralizing a weak acid with a strong base gives a weakly basic salt (e.g., [[sodium fluoride]] from [[hydrogen fluoride]] and [[sodium hydroxide]]).