Strong electrolytes dissociate completely in water to form their respective ions. the equation that represents this dissociation is known as the ionic equation. the equation that gives the description of all the ionic and non-ionic species present in the reaction is known as the total ionic equation, which is the same as the complete ionic equation. however, not all of the ions represented in the total ionic equation undergo the reaction. the ions that are present on both sides of the total ionic equation are known as spectator ions. when the spectator ions are removed from the total ionic equation, you get the net ionic equation. the total ionic equation and the net ionic equation for a chemical reaction consider the neutralization reaction between potassium carbonate, k2co3, and hydrobromic acid, hbr, forming the salt potassium bromide, kbr, carbon dioxide, co2, and water, h2o. the balanced chemical equation for the reaction is k2co3(aq)+2hbr(aq)→2kbr(aq)+co2(g)+ h2o(l) in the reaction, k2co3, hbr, and kbr are strong electrolytes, so these compounds dissociate completely in water to form their respective ions. the total ionic equation is 2k+(aq) + co32−(aq) + 2h+(aq) + 2br−(aq)→2k+(aq) + 2br−(aq) + co2(g) + h2o(l) to obtain the net ionic equation, the spectator ions k+ and br− are removed: co32−(aq)+2h+(aq)→co2(g)+h2o(l) using the chemical formula templates when writing chemical equations in mastering, indicate the physical states using the abbreviation