PHYSICAL SCIENCE

MODULE 10
LIMITING REACTANTS AND THE
AMOUNT OF PRODUCTS FORMED

Cristopher Reymond S. Castillo, Ph.D.

 Objectives
 1. recall the meaning of chemical reactions, products and
reactants;
 2. review how to balance equations of chemical reactions;
 3. recall the possible conversions in chemical reactions;
 4. analyze a chemical reaction in order to determine which
reactant is the limiting reactant and which is the excess
reactant;
 5. calculate the theoretical yield of a reaction when the
available amounts of each reactant are known; and
 6. calculate the percent yield of a reaction based on the
theoretical and actual yields.
Chemical Reaction
 A chemical reaction: is a process in which one
set of substances called reactants is converted
to a new set of substances called products.
 Some physical evidence to look for that shows

a reaction has occurred:

 a color change
 formation of a solid (precipitate) within a clear solution
 evidence of a gas
 evolution or absorption of heat
Examples of Chemical Reaction
 Examples of Simple Chemical Reactions
 hydrogen + oxygen ---> water.
 iron + oxygen ---> rust.
 potassium and chlorine gas ---> chloride.
 lime + carbon dioxide ---> calcium carbonate (used
to strengthen masonry)
 water + carbon dioxide + light ---> glucose and
oxygen (photosynthesis)
Chemical Equations
 Chemical Equation is a symbolic way of
representing a chemical reaction in terms of
chemical formulas.
 In a chemical equation, formulas for the

reactants (starting substances in a chemical

reaction) are written on the left sides of the
equation and formulas for products are written
on the right. The two sides of equation are
joined by an arrow →.
 Stoichiometry is a section of chemistry that involves
using relationships between reactants and/or products in
a chemical reaction to determine desired quantitative
data.
There are instances that some reactant will be excess
and the others will be completely used up. In a chemical
reaction, reactants that are not used up when the reaction
is finished are called excess reagents.
 The reagent that is completely used up or reacted is
called the limiting reagent, because its quantity limits
the amount of products formed.
For example:
 Balancing Equations
 A balanced chemical is equation has equal
numbers of atoms for each element involved in
the reaction are represented on the reactant and
product sides.
 This is a requirement the equation must satisfy

to be consistent with the law of conservation of

matter.
Example
2H2O 2H2 + O2
Definitions
 • Reactants are the substances consumed
 • Products are the substances formed
 • Coefficients are numbers before the formula of a
substance in an equation
 • A balanced equation has the same number of
atoms of each element on both sides of the equation
Coefficients vs. Subscripts
Anatomy of a Chemical Equation
 Double Replacement Chemical Reactions

 Think of double replacement chemical reactions, or metathesis

reactions, like a chemical trade. When you have two complex
reactants (AB and CD) that swap chemicals during a reaction,
you get two new products (AC and BD).
 iron sulfide + hydrogen chloride ---> iron chloride and hydrogen
sulfide (poisonous gas)
 lead nitrate + potassium iodide ---> lead iodide and potassium
nitrate (saltpeter)
 sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) + vinegar ---> carbonic acid
and sodium acetate
 sulfuric acid + barium hydroxide ---> barium sulfate and water
 silver nitrate + sodium chloride ---> silver chloride and sodium
nitrate
Example of Decomposition
Reaction
 water ---> hydrogen and water (electrolysis)
 carbonic acid ---> carbon dioxide and water (when a
soft drink loses its bubbles)
 food ---> proteins and carbohydrates (digestion process)
 silver chloride ---> silver and chlorine
 metal chlorate ---> metal chloride and water
 mercuric oxide ---> mercury metal and oxygen
 ammonium nitrate ---> water and dinitrogen oxide
(laughing gas)
 Single Replacement Chemical Reactions

 A chemical reaction takes an element away from a

compound and adds it to another substance (A + BC =
B and AC).
 zinc + hydrochloric acid ---> zinc chloride and
hydrogen gas
 zinc + silver nitrate ---> zinc nitrate and silver metal
 calcium + water ---> calcium hydroxide and dihydrogen
 iron + copper nitrate ---> iron nitrate and copper metal
 bromine + potassium iodide ---> potassium bromine
and iodine
Stoichoimetry
 Stoichiometry is the study of the quantitative
relationships in substances and their reactions
 –Chemical equations
 –The mole and molar mass
 –Chemical formulas
 –Mass relationships in equations
 –Limiting reactant
Limiting reactant and theoretical yield
Example
 Example 1: Finding the limiting reagent
For the following reaction, what is the limiting
reagent if we start with 2.80g of Al
(Aluminum) and 4.25g of Cl (Chlorine)?
Step 1: Convert amounts (grams) to moles.

 We can convert the masses of Al and Cl2 to moles

using molecular weights:
Step 2: Find the limiting reagent using the
stoichiometric ratio.
 Step 2: Find the limiting reagent using the
stoichiometric ratio.

Based on this calculation, we would need 1.56x10 -1

mol of Cl2 if Al is actually the limiting reagent. Since
we have 5.99 x10-2 mol Cl2which is less than 1.56x10-1
mol of Cl2 our calculation tells us that we would run
out of Cl2 before we fully reacted all of the Al.
Therefore, 1.56x10-1 mol of Cl2is our limiting reagent.
 Step 2: Find the limiting reagent using the
stoichiometric ratio.

 5.99 x10-2 mol Cl2which is less than 1.56x10-1

mol of Cl2
 1.56x10-1 mol Al is greater than 1.04x10 -1 moles

of Al
Step 2: Find the limiting reagent using the
stoichiometric ratio.

 The third method uses the concept of a mole

of reaction, which is abbreviated as mol-rxn.
 One mole of reaction is defined as occurring

when the number of moles given by the

coefficients in your balanced equation react.
Example 2: Calculating theoretical yield

 What is the theoretical yield of AlCl3 that the

reaction can produce when we start with 4.25 g of
Cl2, our limiting reagent?

 Since the Cl2 produces a smaller amount of AlCl3​

than theAldoes, the Cl2​must be the limiting reactant.
Example 2: Calculating theoretical yield
Percent Yield
 The theoretical yield is the maximum amount
of product you would expect from a reaction
based on the amount of limiting reagent.
 Despite how nice and tidy a balanced reaction

appears, reactants can also react in unexpected

and undesirable ways such as doing an
entirely different reaction—sometimes called
a side reaction —to give products that we
don't want.
Percent Yield
Example 3. Calculating theoretical and percent
yield

 For example, the decomposition of magnesium

carbonate (MgCO3) forms 15 grams of magnesium
oxide (MgO) in an experiment. The theoretical
yield is known to be 19 grams. What is the percent
yield of magnesium oxide (MgO)?
Example 3. Calculating theoretical and percent
yield
Example 2: Calculating percent yield

 A students mixes 25.0 mL of 0.314 M BaCl2 with

excess AgNO3 causing AgCl to precipitate. The
balanced equation for the reaction is shown below.
Step 1: Find moles of the limiting reactant
Step 2: Determine the theoretical yield (in
grams)
Step 3: Calculate the percent yield
Summary
 The limiting reactant (or limiting reagent) is the reactant that
gets consumed first in a chemical reaction and therefore limits
how much product can be formed. As we saw in Example 1,
there are many different ways to determine the limiting
reactant, but they all involve using mole ratios from the
balanced chemical equation.
 The amount of product that can be formed based on the
limiting reactant is called the theoretical yield. In reality, the
amount of product actually collected, known as the actual
yield, is almost always smaller than the theoretical yield. The
actual yield is usually expressed as a percent yield, which
specifies what percentage of the theoretical yield was obtained.