General

Chemistry 1 11
General Chemistry 1 – Grade 11 Quarter 1 – Module 17: Stoichiometry:
Limiting and Excess Reagent
 EXPECTATIONS
This module is developed and designed for Senior High School Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students. This module tackles
the topic about limiting and excess reagent in a chemical reaction.
After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. explain the concept of limiting and excess reagent in a chemical reaction;

2. identify the limiting reagent(s) and the excess reagent(s); and
3. appreciate the essence of limiting reagent in production of compounds.

LESSON

Pandesal is a well-known part of every Filipino’s

breakfast. It could be eaten with or without a
spread or even by just partnering it with a hot
coffee in the morning A few pieces could make
your tummy full and you are good to start a
whole day of activities. Now let’s trace our
Pasigueno roots in relation to this food.

Figure 1. Pandesal

Figure 2. Dimas -Alang Bakery

You are a full blooded Pasigu

eno if you tasted the famous
pandesal from the 101 years old
 Dimas-Alang. This Kapasigan-based
bakery is known in keeping the
traditional way of baking using
pugon (wood-fired oven)

Now try to imagine that you are

a baker working on their famous
pandesal. Suppose you wish to bake
pandesal using eggs and flour.

The recipe for making the pandesal can be represented just like a chemical
equation:

Two eggs would require 1 cup of flour to produce 1 big pandesal. If you have 10
eggs and seven cups of flour, you can only make five pieces of big pandesal and you
will have an excess of two cups of flour. Therefore we could infer that the number of
eggs limits the number of pandesal that could be baked.

Likewise, modern day chemists carry different chemical reaction producing

different products for the needs of the society. The reactants in these reactions are
not present in exact stoichiometric amounts rather in proportions that are based
on its balanced equation. Keep in mind that the only goal of a certain reaction is to
produce the maximum quantity of a compound from the given starting reagents or
materials.

Let us study the reaction below:

2A + B → A 2B

A = 500 pesos/mole
B = 10 pesos/mole
A2B = desired product or compound

In this reaction, large excess of one reactant is supplied to ensure that the
more costly reactant is completely converted to the desired product. Consequently
the other reactant will be left over at the end of reaction. So, which reagent should
be consumed first? It should be the reagent that is expensive, substance A, or in
other case is the one which the supply is limited. There is a need to maximize this
reagent since this would be the responsible in maximizing the production of the
target product.
 This concept is applied in the industry of production wherein the least
expensive reactant is usually used as the excess reagent. In this case, the more
expensive reactant is completely used or maximized for the production of the target
product.

So, in a stoichiometric reaction, there are two types of reagents namely limiting
reagent and excess reagent.

Limiting reagent refers to a reactant that is first used or consumed in the reaction
since the maximum amount of the target product depends on how much amount of
this reactant was originally present. By the time that this reactant is used up, no
more products can be possibly formed.

Excess reagent refers to a reactant present in amounts greater than what is

required to react with the quantity of the limiting reagent

Sample Problem 1. Isopentyl acetate is the banana flavoured ester used particularly
in giving a banana taste and smell of a particular food. The synthesis of isopentyl
acetate is shown in this reaction:
C2H4O2 + C5H12O → C7H14O2 + H2O
(Acetic acid) (Isopentyl alcohol) (Isopentyl acetate) (Water)

Let us try to determine how much isopentyl acetate could be made if we only have 1
mole of isopentyl alcohol and 10 moles of acetic acid.

Solution: In this equation, for every one mole of acetic acid, one mole of isopentyl
alcohol is required. If we carry out this particular reaction, after the one mole of
isopentyl alcohol is used up by reacting with one mole of acetic acid, none is
available to react with the other 9 moles of acetic acid left. Therefore the reaction
will stop and will be limited in producing one mole of isopentyl acetate even though
there are 10 mole of acetic acid from the start. That makes the acetic acid as the
excess reagent since there is an excess after the isopentyl alcohol is fully consumed
which is the limiting reagent.

Sample Problem 2. Consider the reaction below:

3H2(g) + N2(g) → 2NH3

If 6.60 moles H2 are made to react with 4.42 moles N2,

a. what is the limiting reagent?
b. How many moles NH3 will be produced?
c. What reagent is in excess and by how much?

Solution:

Step 1 is to check if you are working on a balanced reaction.

3H2(g) + N2(g) → 2NH3 (Balanced reaction)

Step 2 is to calculate the number of moles of the product (in this case is NH 3) based
on the initial concentrations of H2 and N2 (reactants). The limiting reagent will yield
the smaller amount of the product thus the other reactant is the excess reagent.

2 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑁𝐻3
6.60 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝐻2 × = 4.40 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑁𝐻3
3 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝐻2

2 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑁𝐻3
4.42 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑁2 × = 8.84 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑁𝐻3
1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑁2

Therefore H2 is the limiting reagent since it yields a smaller amount of NH 3 while N2

is the excess reagent.

Sample Problem 3. The production of Urea (NH2)2CO is possible by reacting

ammonia with carbon dioxide. In a sample attempt to synthesize urea, 643.2 g of
NH3 are treated with1014 g of CO 2. Molar mass: NH 3 =17.03 g/mol CO2 =44.01
g/mol
a. Determine which of the two reactants is the limiting reagent?
b. Calculate the mass of (NH2)2CO formed?
c. How much excess reagent (in grams) is left at the end of the reaction?

Solution:

We need to perform two separate calculations for NH 3 and CO2 following

stoichiometric relationship below:

grams of NH3→ moles of NH3 → moles of (NH2)2CO grams

of CO2→ moles of CO2 → moles of (NH2)2CO

For NH3

643.2 g NH3×17.03 1 mole g NH NH33× 1 mole 2 moles (𝑁𝐻 NH2)23𝐶𝑂= 18.88

mol(NH2)2CO

For CO2

1014 g CO2×44.01 1 mole g COCO22× 1 mole 1 mole (𝑁𝐻CO2)22𝐶𝑂=23.04 mol

(NH2)2CO

Comparing the two calculated values, the limiting reagent is NH 3 since it produces
smaller amount of (NH2)2CO.

Recall that we determine the moles of (NH 2)2CO formed using NH3. But how do we
convert moles to grams?

Solution:
The molar mass of (NH2)2CO is 60.06 g. We use this information as a conversion
factor

60.06 𝑔 (𝑁𝐻2)2𝐶𝑂
18.88 𝑚𝑜𝑙 (𝑁𝐻2)2𝐶𝑂 × = 1134 g (𝑁𝐻2)2𝐶𝑂
1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 (𝑁𝐻2)2𝐶𝑂

If we would try to work backward, we can calculate the amount of CO 2 that reacted
with 18.8 mol (NH2)2CO. With that, we could determine the excess CO 2 by getting
the difference between the amount reacted and the initial amount of CO 2.

moles of (NH2)2→ moles of CO2 → grams of CO2

1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐶𝑂2 44.01 𝑔 𝐶𝑂2

18.88 𝑚𝑜𝑙 (𝑁𝐻2)2𝐶𝑂 × ×= 830.9 g 𝐶𝑂2
1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 (𝑁𝐻2)2𝐶𝑂 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐶𝑂2

Mass of excess CO2 = Initial amount CO2 –Amount CO2 reacted

= (1014 – 830.9) g CO2

= 183 g CO2

ACTIVITIES
Activity 1 Direction: Answer the following questions for each reaction in a clean
sheet of paper.

Reaction I.

1. Write the balanced equation for the reaction below:

H2(g) +O2(g) →H2O(g)
2. In an experimental set up, there are five moles of hydrogen gas (H 2) and 3
moles of oxygen gas (O2) to form water.
a. How many water molecules are formed?
b. Which reactant is in excess? How many moles of it are there?
c. Which reactant determines how much product can be produced from
the reaction?

Reaction II.

1. Write the balanced equation for the formation of ammonia from nitrogen gas
and hydrogen gas:
___________________________________________________________________________
2. If 3 molecules of nitrogen gas is reacted with 8 molecules of hydrogen gas.
How many ammonia molecules can be formed?

a. Which reactant is in excess? How many molecules of it are there?

 b. Which reactant determines how much product can be produced from
the reaction?

Activity 2 Directions: Perform the needed calculations for these problems. Show
your complete calculations in a clean sheet of paper. Encircle your final answer

1. The production of Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) is carried out in reacting Nitric

oxide (NO) with oxygen gas (O2). An experiment is carried out by reacting
79.7 g NO to 32.19 g of O 2. Determine the limiting reactant in this reaction by
calculating the moles of NO2 produced for each reactant. (Molar mass:
NO=30.01g/mol O2=32 g/mol)

2. The production of Aluminum oxide (Al 2O3) is usually found present in

cosmetics is possible with the reaction between aluminum and Iron (III)
oxide (Fe2O3). Determine the limiting reactant in this reaction by calculating
the moles of Al2O3 produced for each reactant if 250 g of Al are reacted with
801 g of Fe2O3. (Molar mass: Al=26.98 g/mol Fe2O3=159.69 g/mol

Activity 3 Perform the needed calculations for these problems. Show your
complete calculations in a clean sheet of paper. Encircle your final answer.

1. Sodium hydroxide reacts with carbon dioxide as shown by the reaction

below:
2NaOH(s) + CO2(g)→2Na2CO3(s)+H2O(l)

(a) If 2.85 mol of NaOH and 1.09 mol of CO 2 are allowed to react,
determine the limiting reactant.
(b) How many moles of Na2CO3(s) can be produced?
(c) How many moles of the excess reactant are remain after the
completion of the reaction? (Molar mass of NaOH:39.997 g/mol)

2. Bromobenzene (C6H5Br) is obtained with the reaction between benzene (C 6H6)

and bromine gas (Br2).

(a) Identify the limiting reagent.

(b) Determine the moles of the product that can be produced when 40.0 g of
C6H6 is reacted with 70.0 g Br2
(c) How many grams of the excess reagent are left after the reaction? (Molar
mass: C6H6=78.11g/mol and Br2=79.90g/mol)
 POSTTEST

Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of
paper.

1. In a chemical reaction, the reactant that runs out first completely compare to the
other reactant is the ______________.
A. limiting reactant B. theoretical yield
C. percentage yield D. actual yield

2. The limiting reagent in a chemical reaction is one that:

A. has the smallest coefficient
B. has the smallest molar mass
C. is consumed completely
D. has the largest coefficient

3. In the reaction between 8.0 of H 2 with 9.0 g of O2 which of the following

statements is true?
A. The H2 is the limiting reactant B. The O2 is the limiting reactant
C. 2.0 moles of H2O is produced D. 36 grams of H2 is produced

4. This type of reagent determines the amount of the target product formed.
A. Limiting Reactant B. Stoichiometric Coefficients
C. Percentage Yield D. Molecular weight of product

5. Reagent X was used in a reaction. At the end of the reaction, no amount of

reagent X remained. What is reagent X?
A. Limiting reagent B. Excess reagent
C. Catalytic reagent D. Percentage yield