Reactants, Products, and Leftovers

Activity 1: Introduction to Chemical reactions

http://phet.colorado.edu
Learning Goals:
Students will be able to:
 Relate the real-world example of making sandwiches to chemical reactions
 Describe what “limiting reactant” means using examples of sandwiches and chemicals.
 Identify the limiting reactant in a chemical reaction
Directions:
1. Use Reactants, Products, and Leftovers simulation to create your own sandwiches and then see
how many sandwiches you can make with different amounts of ingredients.

Test your learning:

2. a. Predict (without using the sim) how many

cheese sandwiches, as defined by the picture
to the right, you can make if you have 6
pieces of bread and 4 slices of cheese.

b. Talk with your partner about your thinking to get the answer.

c. Then, use the sim to check your answer and make any corrections.

3. a. Predict what would change about your

number of sandwiches and thinking if you
had the same 6 pieces of bread and 4 slices
of cheese, but the sandwich is made like the picture on the right?

b. Check your prediction using the sim and make any changes.

4. Why did the number of sandwiches change even though the amounts of ingredients were the
same? Research what “limiting reactant” means and then write a description in your own words
using the situations in #2 and #3 as supporting evidence.

5. A tricycle factory gets a shipment with 400 seats and 600 wheels. Use your ideas about Limiting
Reactants to explain how you would figure out how many tricycles can be made.
Relate the model to Chemistry, Click on MOLECULES:

6. The balanced chemical reaction for producing water is: 2 H 2 + 1 O2  2 H2O.

Research the “The Law of Definite Proportions” and explain why the simulation doesn’t have
choices for the ratio of hydrogen and oxygen like it does for cheese, bread, and meat.

7. Predict which reactant amounts would get the most water with the least amount of leftovers.
Explain how your understanding of Limiting Reactant helped you figure this out.

5 3 5 5 3 5

8.

Click “Make ammonia”. What is the balanced equation for making ammonia?

9. What combination of reactants produces 4 ammonia without any leftovers?

10. Click “Combust methane”. What is the balanced equation for the combustion of methane?

11. If you start with 3 methane and 8 oxygen, what are the numbers of your products and leftovers?

12. What would be your limiting reactant and your excess reactant in the above question? Explain
your reasoning.

Activity 2: Limiting Reactants in Chemical Reactions

2/23/2023 Loeblein http://phet.colorado.edu

 1. Play all levels of the Game with “nothing” hidden and record your scores. Play a few
times if you feel you need to.

2. Play all levels of the Game with “molecules” hidden and record your scores. Play a few
times if you feel you need to.

3. Play all levels of the Game with “molecules” hidden and record your scores. Play a few
times if you feel you need to.

4. If you were helping a friend do stoichiometry problems, what would you tell them about
how they might use subscripts and coefficients in their problem solving?

5. How might using molecular images help your friend when doing problem solving?

2/23/2023 Loeblein http://phet.colorado.edu