The neutralization reaction between hydrochloric acid HCl and sodium hydroxide NaOH can be represented by the following balanced chemical equation:HCl aq + NaOH aq NaCl aq + H2O l To find the net ionic equation, we first break down the soluble ionic compounds into their respective ions:H+ aq + Cl- aq + Na+ aq + OH- aq Na+ aq + Cl- aq + H2O l Now, we can eliminate the spectator ions that appear on both sides of the equation:Na+ aq and Cl- aq are spectator ions.The net ionic equation for the neutralization reaction between HCl and NaOH is:H+ aq + OH- aq H2O l