You are dealing with a neutralization reaction that takes place between acetic acid,
CH
3
COOH
, a weak acid, and sodium hydroxide,
NaOH
, a strong base.
Now, the pH of the resulting solution will depend on whether or not the neutralization is complete or not.
If the neutralization is not complete, more specifically if the acid is not completely neutralized, you will have a buffer solution that will contain acetic acid and its conjugate base, the acetate anion..
It's important to note that at complete neutralization, the pH of the solution will not be equal to
7
. Even if you neutralize the weak acid completely, the solution will be left with its conjugate base, which is why you can expect its pH to be greater than
7
.
So, the balanced chemical equation for this reaction is
5.35