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Limiting Reagent Tutorial and Practice Problems

The document discusses the concept of the limiting reagent in chemical reactions. It provides examples to demonstrate how to determine which reactant is the limiting reagent by comparing the amounts of each reactant and determining which will be used up first. It then shows how to use the limiting reagent amount to calculate the theoretical yield of products. Several practice problems are included for determining limiting reagents, excess reactants, and calculating theoretical and percent yields of products.

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Mustafa Ayhan Dudu
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257 views4 pages

Limiting Reagent Tutorial and Practice Problems

The document discusses the concept of the limiting reagent in chemical reactions. It provides examples to demonstrate how to determine which reactant is the limiting reagent by comparing the amounts of each reactant and determining which will be used up first. It then shows how to use the limiting reagent amount to calculate the theoretical yield of products. Several practice problems are included for determining limiting reagents, excess reactants, and calculating theoretical and percent yields of products.

Uploaded by

Mustafa Ayhan Dudu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Limiting Reagent Tutorial and Practice Problems

What is the Limiting Reagent?

It is simply the substance in a chemical reaction that runs out first. Let's try a simple example.

Reactant A is a test tube. I have 20 of them. Reactant B is a stopper. I have 30 of them. Product C is a
stoppered test tube. The reaction is: A + B  C
or: test tube plus stopper gives stoppered test tube.

So now we let them "react." Suddenly, we run out of one of the "reactants." We run out of test tubes first.
Seems obvious, doesn't it? We had 20 test tubes, but we had 30 stoppers. So when the test tubes are used up,
we have 10 stoppers sitting there unused. And we also have 20 stoppered test tubes.

It is the same concept for chemistry problems. Just like above we must compare numbers of reactants (we
didn’t compare grams of test tubes to grams of stoppers!), so we use the unit of moles in chemistry to count
numbers of reactants and products easily.

Limiting Reagent Problems

Example Problem #1:  Consider the reaction:

2 Al + 3 I2  2 AlI3
Determine the limiting reagent and the theoretical yield of the product if one starts with: 1.20 mol Al and 2.40
mol iodine.

Solution: There are several techniques to find the limiting reactant.

One Method: Find out how much of each reactant you would use if the other was used entirely.

To find amount of Iodine we would need: 1.20 mol x 3/2 = 1.8 mol of Iodine needed to react with all
our Al. Notice we have more than this amount, so Iodine is excess. This means Al must be limiting!

To find amount of Al we need to react with all our Iodine: 2.40 mol x 2/3 = 1.6 mol of Al needed to
react with all our Iodine. Notice we don’t have this much, so Al is excess. This means Iodine must be
limiting!

Another Method: Take the moles of each substance and divide it by the coefficient of the balanced equation.
The substance that has the smallest answer is the limiting reagent.

For aluminum: 1.20 / 2 = 0.60


For iodine: 2.40 / 3 = 0.80

The lowest number indicates the limiting reagent. Aluminum will run out first.
Next use the balanced equation to find moles of products made using the limiting reagent’s mole amount. Al
and AlI3 have a one-to-one molar relationship, so 1.20 mol of Al produces 1.20 mol of AlI 3. Notice that the
amount of I2 does not play a role, since it is in excess.

NOTE: If you begin with grams you must always convert to moles in order to find the limiting and excess
reactant! You cannot find limiting/excess from grams without converting to moles!

Problem #2: If there is 35.0 grams of C6H10 and 45.0 grams of O2, how many grams of the excess reagent will
remain after the reaction ceases?
6 C6H10 + 17 O2  12 CO2 + 10 H2O
Answer: 6.37 g O2  remaining

Problem #3: Based on the balanced equation:


C4H8 + 6O2  4CO2 + 4H2O
calculate the number of excess reagent units remaining when 28 C 4H8 molecules and 228 O2 molecules react?
Answer: 60 excess oxygen molecules.

Problem #4: For the combustion of sucrose:


C12H22O11 + 12O2  12CO2 + 11H2O
there are 10.0 g of sucrose and 10.0 g of oxygen reacting. Which is the limiting reagent?
Answer: Oxygen is the limiting reagent.

Problem #5: Calculate the number of NaBr molecules formed when 50 NBr3 molecules and 57 NaOH
molecules react?
2NBr3 + 3NaOH  N2 + 3NaBr + 3HOBr
Answer: 57 molecules.

Problem #6: Aluminum reacts with chlorine gas to form aluminum chloride via the following reaction:
2Al + 3Cl2  2AlCl3

How many grams of aluminum chloride could be produced from 34.0 g of aluminum and 39.0 g of chlorine
gas?

Answer: = 48.9 g

Problem #7: Suppose 316.0 g aluminum sulfide reacts with 493.0 g of water. What mass of the excess reactant
remains?

The unbalanced equation is:


Al2S3 + H2O  Al(OH)3 + H2S
Answer: = 265.5 g H2O
Problem #8: In this reaction:
CaCO3 + 2HCl  CaCl2 + CO2 + H2O
6.088 g CaCO3 reacted with 2.852 g HCl. What mass of CaCO3 remains unreacted?

Answer: = 2.174 g

Problem #9: How many grams of PF5 can be formed from 9.46 g of PF3 and 9.42 g of XeF4 in the following
reaction?
2PF3 + XeF4  2PF5 + Xe
Answer: = 11.45 g

Problem #10: How many grams of IF5 would be produced using 44.01 grams of I2O5 and 101.0 grams of BrF3?
6I2O5 + 20BrF3  12IF5 + 15O2 + 10Br2
Answer: = 58.51 g

Problem #11: 950.0 grams of copper(II) sulfate are reacted with 460.0 grams of zinc metal. (a) What is the
theoretical yield of Cu? (b) If 295.8 grams of copper are actually obtained from this reaction, what is the
percent yield?

Answer to a: 378.2 g
Answer to b: = 78.21 %

Problem #12: What weight of each substance is present after 0.4500 g of P4O10 and 1.5000 g of PCl5 are
reacted completely?
P4O10 + 6PCl5  10POCl3
Answer: = 1.8408 g P4O10. Since PCl5 is limiting, zero grams of it will remain.

Problem #13: The reaction of 4.25 g of Cl2 with 2.20 g of P4 produces 4.28 g of PCl5. What is the percent yield?

Answer: = 85.2%

Problem #14: 35.5 g SiO2 and 66.5 g of HF react to yield 45.8 g H2SiF6 in the following equation:
SiO2(s) + 6 HF(aq)  H2SiF6(aq) + 2 H2O(l)

a. How much mass of the excess reactant remains after reaction ceases? 
b. What is the theoretical yield of H2SiF6 in grams? 
c. What is the percent yield?

Answer to a: 2.21 g SiO2 remains


Answer to b: 85.1 g H2SiF6 produced
Answer to c: 53.8%
Problem #14: Gaseous ethane reacts with gaseous dioxygen to produce gaseous carbon dioxide and gaseous
water.

a) Suppose a chemist mixes 13.8 g of ethane and 7 atm of dioxygen in a 5 L container at 25 °C. Calculate the
theoretical yield of water in Liters at STP.
b) Suppose the reaction actually produces 14.2 grams of water. Calculate the percent yield of water.

Answer to a: 77.4 g of water, 96. 32 L at STP


Answer to b:18.3%

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