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Limiting reactants and calculating theoretical yield

Quantitative chemistry • Amount of substance and mass

Key concepts

What you'll likely be quizzed about

  • A limiting reactant is the substance that is consumed first in a chemical reaction.
  • It restricts the formation of product due to stoichiometric ratios requiring fixed proportions of reactants.
  • An excess reactant remains after the reaction has finished and does not determine the final amount of product.
  • Identifying the limiting reactant involves comparing the amounts of reactants against their stoichiometric coefficients.

Flashcards

Test your knowledge with interactive flashcards

What is a common error when comparing reactant masses directly?

Click to reveal answer

Comparing raw masses ignores molar mass and stoichiometric coefficients, leading to incorrect identification of the limiting reactant.

Key notes

Important points to keep in mind

Always balance the equation before mole calculations.

Convert all given masses or concentrations to moles before comparing reactants.

Compare moles divided by stoichiometric coefficients to identify the limiting reactant.

Calculate theoretical moles of product from the limiting reactant, then convert to grams if needed.

Retain significant figures during calculations; round only the final answer.

Percentage yield uses actual mass from experiment and theoretical mass from calculation.

Do not compare raw masses of different substances without converting to moles first.

Check units: mass in grams, molar mass in g mol−1, volume in liters, concentration in mol L−1.

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