Recall the example of a

double cheeseburger
The equation is:
two slices of bread + one hamburger patty
+ two slices of cheese = one double
cheeseburger
 two slices of bread + one hamburger
patty + two slices of cheese
= one double cheeseburger

When Karen went shopping, she was able

to buy 50 slices of cheese, 20 hamburger
patties and 50 slices of bread. How many
double cheeseburgers can she make?
40 slices of bread + 20 patties + 40 slices of cheese = 20 double
10 slices in excess 10 slices in excess
cheeseburgers
Therefore:
Karen can only make 20 double
cheeseburgers. The limiting material is the
hamburger patty. There are ten slices of
bread and ten cheese slices in excess.
Karen cannot make more than 20
sandwiches because all the hamburger
patties have been used up.
Limiting Reagent
• The reactant that is consumed first in the
chemical reaction.
• The amount of limiting reagent present at
the start of the reaction determines the
maximum product that can be formed.

Excess Reactant
• Reactant present in quantity greater than
what is needed by the reaction.
Theoretical Yield
• The maximum amount of product that can
be produced from a given amount of
reactant in ideal conditions.
Actual Yield
• The quantity of the desired product actually
formed.
Example 1

Consider the reaction:

3H2(g) + N2(g) 2NH3(g)

a. If 6.60 moles of H2 are made to react

with 4.42 moles N2 , what is the limiting
reagent? How many moles NH3 will be
produced? What reagent is in excess
and by how much?
Determine which reagent will produce the
smallest amount of product:

Therefore, the limiting reagent is H2.

The amount of limiting reagent presents at the start of
the reaction determines the maximum product formed.

The excess reagent is N2. If you have 6.60 moles H2

then you will need:

But you have 4.42 moles N2.

Therefore, the excess amount of N2 is:
4.42 moles – 2.20 moles = 2.22 moles N2.
Example 1
Consider the reaction:
3H2(g) + N2(g) 2NH3(g)

b. If 25.5 g H2 are made to react with

64.2 g N2, what is the limiting reagent?
What is the maximum amount of NH3
formed? What reagent in excess and by
how much?
1. Get the number of moles of each reactant.

2. Calculate the number of moles of product using

each reagent.

3. The one that yields the smallest number of moles

of product is the limiting reagent.

Therefore, the limiting reagent is N2.

The amount of limiting reagent presents at the start of
the reaction determines the maximum product formed.

The excess reagent is H2. If you have 2.29 moles N2

then you will need:
3 moles H2
2.29 moles N2 x ------------------------ = 6.87 moles H2
1 mole N2

But you have 12.6 moles H2.

Therefore, the excess amount of H2 is:
12.6 moles – 6.87 moles = 5.73 moles H2.
Theoretical Yield, Actual Yield,
and Percent Yield
Theoretical yield
• The maximum amount of product that would result
if the limiting reagent is completely consumed.
• It is the amount of product predicted by
stoichiometry.

Actual yield
• The quantity of the desired product actually
formed.
Percent Yield

If in the example given above, only 54.0 g

NH3 were produced, then the actual yield is
54.0 g; the theoretical yield is 78.0 g and the
% yield is:
Practice Exercise (By Group)
Silver metal reacts with sulfur to form silver sulfide
according to the following reaction:
2Ag(s) + S(s) Ag2S(s)
a) Identify the limiting reagent if 50.0 g Ag reacts with
10.0 g S.
b) What is the theoretical yield in g of Ag2S produced
from the reaction?
c) What is the amount in g of the excess reactant
expected to remain after the reaction?
d) When the reaction occurred, the amount of Ag2S
obtained was 45.0 g. What is the percent yield of the
reaction?
Evaluation:

The reaction: N2(g) + 2O2(g) N2O4(g) occurs

in a closed container.
If 8.0 moles N2(g) are made to react with 12.0 moles
O2:
a) identify the limiting reagent
b) identify the excess reagent and
c) calculate the theoretical yield
Assignment

Watch the animation video of limiting reagent

from this source:
http://www.mhhe.com/physsci/chemistry/
essentialchemistry/flash/limitr15.swf