system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How does acid burn through things?

Is it creating heat or does the acid just 'disassemble' everything it touches.
gpt
It disassembles things. Most acids consist of a Hydrogen ion (essentially a single proton) and another ion. For example, Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is actually a bunch of H+ and Cl- ions suspended in water. Those Cl- ions are highly reactive. They will combine with most things.

Take HCl and expose it to, say, Iron (Fe), and you'll end up with FeCl and a bunch of Hydrogen gas. So those Cl- ions essentially removed Iron atoms from the block of iron.