What Is the Reaction Between Hydrochloric Acid and Magnesium?

The chemical reaction between hydrochloric acid and magnesium produces magnesium chloride and hydrogen gas. The balanced chemical equation for this reaction is Mg (s) + 2 HCl (aq) produces MgCl2 (aq) + H2 (g), where the letter “s” stands for solid, “g” is gas and “aq” represents an aqueous solution.

This chemical equation represents a reaction between the active metal magnesium and a strong acid. These types of reactions will always produce a salt and hydrogen gas. In this reaction, the salt is magnesium chloride.

Similarly, this is also a single replacement reaction in which the metal takes the place of another element in a compound. In this case, magnesium replaces the hydrogen in the acid, resulting in hydrogen gas being one of the products. The other product or magnesium chloride is a compound that has an atomic weight of 95.211 grams per mole.