[PaxRomana]

Hello all, need a bit of help.

I'm doing ionic equations. What I need to know is, should I be showing a hydrogen that covalently bonded as part of a molecule on the left hand side of the equation, as a separate ion, as it will be ending up as part of a different molecule on the right hand side.

The bits in brackets represent the charge.

Do I need to do it like this:

Na(+)H(+)CO3(2-) + H(+)Cl(-) -> Na(+)Cl(-) + CO2 + H2O

Or should I do it like this (below), with the hydrogen as part of the carbonate molecule on the left hand side. I'm bothered that this way may be wrong because it doesn't describe very well that the Hydrogen is leaving the CO3.

Na(+)HCO3(2-) + H(+)Cl(-) -> Na(+)Cl(-) + CO2 + H2O

Thanks ever so much for advice

[Yggdrasil]

I would say that writing sodium bicarbonate as

Na⁺ + HCO₃^-

is more correct.  As you said, the hydrogen is covalently bonded to the carbonate, so it would be incorrect to write it as being a separate ion in solution.

[PaxRomana]

Thank you kindly for that