The strength of an acid is the degree to which it gives up its Hydrogen ions or accepts electrons. The greater extent that it does this the greater the strength of the acid. Return to the top of the page. Formation of Salts With Hydrohalic Acids When a Hydrohalic Acid reacts with a base it forms a halide salt plus water. The salt contains the halogen of the acid and the cation of the base.
Hydrochloric acid reacts with bases to form chloride salts.
The specific cation will depend upon what base was used to begin with. Let's do some practice. There are several series of acids composed of Halogens, Oxygens and an ionizable Hydrogen ion. HClO is called hypochlorous acid. Hypochorous acid is a weak acid but it will react with a base to form salts that are called hypochlorite salts.