Acids, Bases, and Salts Practice Test

When equal moles of a strong acid and a strong base mix, they react completely to form water and a salt. The acid donates H+ ions and the base donates OH− ions, which combine to make H2O in a 1:1 ratio, consuming all the reactive species. If the resulting salt comes from a strong acid and a strong base, its constituent ions (like Na+ and Cl−) do not hydrolyze significantly in water. That means nothing in the solution shifts the balance toward extra H+ or OH−, so the solution remains neutral. At 25°C, neutral water has a pH of 7, so the mixture ends up with pH ~7. This is why strong acid–strong base neutralization yields a neutral solution under standard conditions.

Salts derived from weak acids or weak bases would behave differently because those ions can hydrolyze and shift the pH, but not in this case.