Why do H+ ions not react with the atoms/molecules they're originally bonded to?

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When hydrochloric acid (HCl) is dissolved in water, it dissociates into hydrogen ions (H+) and chloride ions (Cl-). The dissociation can be represented by the equation HCl ↔ H+ + Cl-. The dissociation constant (K_a) for this reaction is high, indicating that the majority of HCl molecules dissociate in solution, leaving only a very small amount of undissociated HCl. Despite the presence of both H+ and Cl- ions in equal concentrations, they do not react with each other due to the nature of their interactions in solution. The H+ ions are highly reactive and will engage with other substances, such as metals and hydroxide ions, but they do not form a stable compound with Cl- in the aqueous environment. This behavior is attributed to the hydration process that facilitates the dissociation of HCl in water.
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If you dissolve HCl in solution, the why do the H+ and the Cl- not react with one another? The H+ will react with any metal, will react with OH-, will react with your skin for sure, along with many other things, but why does it seem to just ignore a perfectly good negative ion that is in the exact same concentration as it is.
 
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But it DOES. You have to remember this is hydrogen chloride gas IN solution, which allows Dissociation of the HCl molecule due to Hydration.
 
Yeah, better to think of it as the HCl molecule reacts with water to dissociate the two.
 
Hydrogen chloride dissociates in water

HCl \leftrightarrow H^+ + Cl^-

dissociation constant for this reaction is

K_a = \frac {[H^+][Cl^-]} {[HCl]}

pKa = -4 (see pKa tables at ChemBuddy).

So in every solution of hydrochloric acid you may expect minute amounts of undissociated HCl - but as the Ka constant is large, these will be VERY minute.
 

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