H3O+; that is, a positively charged and therefore polar substance consisting of one oxygen atom and three hydrogen atoms.
Hydronium ions are cations that form from the chemical reaction of hydrogen ions, and water and are found in aqueous solution. Though typically presented as a more realistic representation of hydrogen ions as these protons are found in water, in fact the hydrodium ion itself is a simplified representation since its positive charge results in the formation of even more complex associations with water (see, for example, hydration shell).
The more hydrodium ions or their equivalent that are found within an aqueous solution, the lower the pH of that solution since pH, simplistically, is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration within a solution (that is, and less simplistically, pH is a measure of the hydronium ion concentration of a solution).
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