What does a water molecule that loses a hydrogen ion become?
Chemistry · High School · Sun Jan 24 2021
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A water molecule (H2O) that loses a hydrogen ion (H+) becomes a hydroxide ion (OH-). When a water molecule loses a hydrogen ion, it effectively loses one of its hydrogen atoms, which is essentially just a single proton (the electron typically remains with the oxygen atom, but in the case of ionization, the electron is lost as well). This leaves behind an oxygen atom that is bonded to a single hydrogen atom (OH), and it carries a negative electrical charge (hence the minus sign in OH-), because it has one more electron than it does protons.