An industrial process can produce hydrogen chloride gas as a primary product or as a byproduct. The method for producing hydrogen chloride as a finished product involves burning hydrogen and chlorine together to produce the gas. The equation H + Cl = HCl represents this system.
The industrial process for creating soda ash creates the gas as a byproduct. The initial ingredients of the process are sodium chloride and sulfuric acid. This byproduct then needs to be purified and distilled, as it contains impurities such as arsenic, calcium chloride and sulfuric acid.
The soda ash byproduct production system needs two sodium chloride molecules and one sulfuric acid molecule to create two hydrogen chloride molecules. This is represented by the equation 2NaCl + H2SO4 = Na2S04 +2 HCl.
A hydrogen atom is composed of one proton (a positively charged particle) and one electron (a negatively charged particle). This element derives its name from the Greek words for water (hudor) and generate (gennan). The hydrogen atom binds to the chlorine atom to create the hydrogen chloride gas that has the chemical name HCl.
A chlorine atom has 17 protons, 17 electrons and 18 neutrons (particles with no electric charge). Its name comes from the Greek "khloros" meaning green, as the pure element is green.
A water molecule contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. These atoms are held together by a strong bond called a covalent bond. The molecule's oxygen atom also has a slight negative charge and the hydrogen atoms have a slightly positive charge. The molecule can also split into a hydrogen ion (positively charged) and a hydroxyl ion (negatively charged).
Water is roughly pH neutral because the two ions (hydrogen and hydroxyl) cancel each other out. However, when manufacturers add hydrogen chloride gas (HCl) the level of hydrogen ions in the solution rises (because of the extra hydrogen ions from the gas) and it becomes more acidic, hence the name hydrochloric acid.