Answer and Explanation:
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is a strong base and nitric acid (HNO₃) is a strong acid. That means that they dissociates in water by giving the ions:
NaOH ⇒ Na⁺(ac) + OH⁻(ac)
HNO₃ ⇒ H⁺(ac) + NO₃⁻(ac)
The reaction between an acid and a base is called neutralization. In this case, HNO₃ loses its proton and it is converted in NO₃⁻ (nitrate anion). NaOH loses its hydroxyl anion (OH⁻) by giving Na⁺ cations.
Na⁺ cations with NO₃⁻ anions form the salt NaNO₃ (sodium nitrate); whereas H⁺ and OH⁻ form water molecules. The complete equation is the following:
HNO₃(ac) + NaOH(ac) ⇒ NaNO₃(ac) + H₂O(l)
The ionic equation is:
H⁺(ac) + NO₃⁻(ac) + Na⁺(ac) + OH⁻(ac) ⇄ Na⁺(ac) + NO₃⁻(ac) + H₂O(ac)
If we cancel the repeated ions at both sides of the equation, it gives the following ionic reaction:
H⁺(ac) + OH⁻(ac) ⇄ H₂O(ac)
