The H+ Ion in water

The H+ ion is simply a proton (nucleus of a hydrogen atom without its valence electron)

• In water, clusters of hydrated H+ ions form
• The simplest cluster is H3O+
• we call this the hydronim ion
• Larger clusters are also possible (such as H5O2 and H9O4)

Generally we use H+ and H3O+ interchangeably

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