Answer:
In the example reaction given, the reactants are Mg(OH)2 and NaCl, and the products are MgCl2 and NaOH. This is a double replacement reaction, which involves the exchange of positive and negative ions between the reactants to form new products.
To balance the ionic formula for the products, we need to make sure that the charges on the cations and anions are balanced. In the products, we have Mg2+ and Cl- ions, which come from MgCl2, and Na+ and OH- ions, which come from NaOH.
We can write the ionic formulas for the reactants as Mg2+(OH-)2 and Na+(Cl-), respectively. When the reaction occurs, the Mg2+ ion and the Cl- ion exchange partner to form MgCl2, and the Na+ ion and the OH- ion exchange partners to form NaOH.
The balanced chemical equation is:
Mg(OH)2 + 2NaCl -> MgCl2 + 2NaOH
The ionic formula for MgCl2 is Mg2+(Cl-)2, which shows that each Mg2+ ion is paired with two Cl- ions to form a neutral compound. The ionic formula for NaOH is Na+(OH-), which shows that Na+ is paired with OH- to form a neutral compound.
Overall, the balanced equation and ionic formulas show that during the reaction, the Mg2+ ion and the Cl- ion exchanged partners, as did the Na+ ion and the OH- ion, to form the new products.