Dissociation (chemistry)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Dissociation" chemistry – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Dissociation of Gomberg's dimer

Dissociation diagram of phosphoric acid

Dissociation in chemistry is a general process in which molecules (or ionic compounds such as salts, or complexes) separate or split into other things such as atoms, ions, or radicals, usually in a reversible manner. For instance, when an acid dissolves in water, a covalent bond between an electronegative atom and a hydrogen atom is broken by heterolytic fission, which gives a proton (H⁺) and a negative ion. Dissociation is the opposite of association or recombination.