The general chemical formula of the reaction is as follows:
In the first step, the acidic proton bonds to the less substituted carbon of the double bond following Markovnikov's rule. In the second step an H2O molecule bonds to the other, more highly substitued carbon. The oxygen atom at this point has three bonds and carries a positive charge. Another water molecule comes along and takes up the extra proton.
When carried out in the laboratory, this reaction tends to yeild many undesirable side products and in its simple form described here is not considered very useful for the production of alcohol.
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