Question

How would potassium hydroxide react hydrochloric acid?

Answer 1

The reaction of an acid and base is referred to as a neutralization reaction. The products obtained after the reaction are salt and water.

Complete step by step answer:
Potassium hydroxide is denoted as $KOH$. It is composed of potassium cation (${K^ + }$) and hydroxide anion ($O{H^ - }$). On dissolution in water potassium hydroxides produces potassium ions and hydroxide ions. Thus potassium hydroxide is a base.
Actually, potassium hydroxide is a very strong base as it dissociates completely and very smoothly in water. Due to such dissociation the ions remain in free form and can react with a substance it comes in contact with.
Hydrochloric acid is denoted as $HCl$. It is composed of hydrogen cation ($H{}^ +$) and chloride anion ($C{l^ - }$). On dissolution in water hydrogen chloride produced hydrogen ion and chloride ion. Thus hydrogen chloride is an acid.
It is also a very strong acid due to complete dissociation and the ions remain as free ions. In this case a strong base is made to react with a strong acid. Thus a neutralization reaction takes place. The reaction is written as
$KOH(aq) + HCl(aq) \to KCl(aq) + {H_2}O(l)$
The products of the reaction are $KCl$(salt) which remains in aqueous form and water. Along with these products heat of neutralization is also produced in the reaction. The reaction of strong base and a strong acid generally produces a neutral solution. However it depends on the strength of the respective solutions.

Note:
The neutralization reaction occurs and results in the generation of a soluble salt. The soluble salt thus formed is formed by the combination of cation from the base and anion from the acid.