It forms NH4Cl, ammonium chloride, which is soluble in the water.
When a substance dissolves in water, it means that the individual particles of the substance separate and disperse throughout the water. In the case of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl), it forms a soluble solution in water.
To understand why ammonium chloride is soluble in water, we can look at the nature of the compound. Ammonium chloride is an ionic compound composed of ammonium (NH4+) and chloride (Cl-) ions. Ionic compounds are made up of positively and negatively charged ions, and the attraction between these charged particles plays a significant role in their solubility in water.
Water is a polar molecule, meaning it has a positive and negative region due to the electronegativity difference between oxygen and hydrogen atoms. The positive hydrogen end of one water molecule is attracted to the negative chloride ion (Cl-) of ammonium chloride, while the negative oxygen end of another water molecule is attracted to the positive ammonium ion (NH4+).
These attractive forces between water molecules and the individual ions in ammonium chloride overcome the attractions between the ions, causing the compound to dissociate into its constituent ions in water. As a result, ammonium chloride dissolves in water, forming a solution in which the NH4+ and Cl- ions are dispersed uniformly.
It's important to note that the solubility of a substance is also influenced by factors like temperature and pressure. In the case of ammonium chloride, its solubility in water increases with increasing temperature as more kinetic energy is available for the dissolution process.