Limiting and Excess Reagents

Everyday Situation

In a chemical reaction an insufficient quantity of any of the reactants will limit the amount of product that
forms.
Assume that you have to prepare some sandwiches:

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Managing the concepts 2𝐻2 + 𝑂2 → 2𝐻2 𝑂

Experimental Conditions: 1.5 mol of O2 + 4 mol of H2

Limiting Reagent

Reagent that determines the amount of product that

can be formed by a reaction. The reaction occurs only
until the limiting reagent is used up.

Excess Reagent

Reagent that is not completely used up in the reaction.

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Determining the limiting reagent in a reaction
Sample Problem

Copper reacts with sulfur to form copper (I) sulfide. What is the limiting
reagent when 80 g of copper reacts with 25 g of sulfur?

1. Write the balanced chemical equation

2. Convert the given data of the reactants to moles unit.

3. Use the mole ratio to check how much product can be produced by each of the reagents.

4. The reagent that gives a lower amount of product is the limiting reagent.

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Using a limiting reagent to find the quantity of
a product.
Sample Problem

Hydrogen gas can be produced by the single replacement reaction of magnesium metal and hydrochloric
acid. How many grams of hydrogen can be produced when 20 g of magnesium reacts with 30 g of
hydrochloric acid?

1. Write and Balance the chemical equation.

2. Analyze the given and wanted data.

3. Find the limiting reagent.

4. Start with the moles of the limiting reagent and convert to the moles of the product using the mole ratio.

5. If the problem ask for a different unit, do the conversion.

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Using a limiting reagent to find the quantity of
a product.
Practice Exercises

1. Ethene (C2H4) pass through an incomplete combustion process, producing carbon dioxide and water. If 35
g of ethene reacts with 58 g of oxygen, how many molecules of water can be produced?

2. The heat from an acetylene torch is produced by burning acetylene (C2H2) in oxygen. How many grams of
water can be produced by the reaction of 8.2 x 1024 molecules of acetylene with 5.4x1025 molecules of
oxygen?

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Managing Concepts
Theoretical Yield
Is the maximum amount of products that can be
formed from given amount of reactants.
Actual Yield
Is the amount of product that actually forms when
the reaction is carried out in the laboratory.
Percent Yield
Is the ratio of the actual yield to the theoretical yield
expressed as a percent.
Is a measure of the efficiency of a reaction carried out in the laboratory.

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Calculating the theoretical and percent yield of a
reaction
Sample Problem

Calcium carbonate which is found in seashells, is decomposed by heating, producing calcium oxide and carbon
dioxide. What is the theoretical yield of calcium oxide if 24.8 g of calcium carbonate is heated? What is the
percent yield if 13.1 g of calcium oxide is actually produced?
1. Write and Balance the chemical equation.

2. Calculate the amount of calcium oxide that can be produced with that amount of calcium carbonate. That is
the theoretical yield.

3. Use the formula for percent yield and substitute the data calculated.

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Practice Problems
1. If 50 g of silicon dioxide are heated with an excess of carbon, 27.9 g of carbon of silicon carbide are
produced. The other product of the reaction is carbon monoxide. What is the percent yield of the reaction.

2. If 15 g of nitrogen reacts with 15 g of hydrogen, 10.5 g of ammonia are produced. What is the percent yield
of the reaction?

3. Iron disulfide reacts with oxygen to produce Iron(III) oxide and sulfuric oxide. How many grams of sulfuric
oxide are produced when 20 grams of iron disulfide reacts with 16 g of oxygen? What is the percent yield if
20.5 g of sulfuric oxide are actually produced in lab?

4. When 50 g of silicon dioxide is heated with an excess of carbon, 32.2 g of silicon carbide is produced. Being
carbon monoxide the other product of the reaction, what is the percent yield of this reaction?

5. Calcium carbonate reacts with sulfur dioxide and oxygen gas to produce calcium sulfate and carbon dioxide.
If the reaction described proceeds with a 96.8% yield, how many kilograms of calcium sulfate are formed
when 5.24 kg of sulfur dioxide reacts with an excess of calcium carbonate and oxygen?
Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC
 Purity of Reactants
Many samples of chemicals are not pure. We can define percent purity as:

Sample Problem

Nitric acid is produced in a complex three-step process summarized by these unbalanced equations.

𝑁𝐻3 + 𝑂2 → 𝑁𝑂 + 𝐻2 𝑂
𝑁𝑂 + 𝑂2 → 𝑁𝑂2
𝑁𝑂2 + 𝐻2 𝑂 → 𝐻𝑁𝑂3 + 𝑁𝑂
The nitric oxide produced in step 3 is recycled into step 2.

The concentrated nitric acid used in lab is 70% pure in water, how many grams of nitric acid with this
concentration can be produced when 88 g of ammonia reacts with an excess of the other reactants?

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Purity of reagents
1. Balance the three chemical equations.
4𝑁𝐻3 + 5 𝑂2 → 4𝑁𝑂 + 6 𝐻2 𝑂
2𝑁𝑂 + 𝑂2 → 2 𝑁𝑂2
3𝑁𝑂2 + 𝐻2 𝑂 → 2𝐻𝑁𝑂3 + 𝑁𝑂
2. Calculate the amount of NO produced with the given amount of NH3.
1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝐻3 4 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝑂 30 𝑔 𝑁𝑂
88𝑔 𝑁𝐻3 ∗ ∗ ∗ = 155.29 𝑔 𝑁𝑂
17 𝑔 𝑁𝐻3 4 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝐻3 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝑂

3. Calculate the amount of NO2 produced with that amount of NO.

30 𝑔 𝑁𝑂 2 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝑂2 46 𝑔 𝑁𝑂2
155.29 𝑔 𝑁𝑂 ∗ ∗ ∗ = 238 .11 𝑔 𝑁𝑂2
1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝑂 2 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝑂 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝑂2
4. Calculate the amount HNO3 produced with the calculated amount of NO2.
1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝑂2 2 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐻𝑁𝑂3 63 𝑔 𝐻𝑁𝑂3
238.11 𝑔 𝑁𝑂2 ∗ ∗ ∗ = 217.40 𝑔 𝐻𝑁𝑂3
46 𝑔 𝑁𝑂2 3 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑁𝑂2 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐻𝑁𝑂3

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC

 Purity of reagents
5. Using the amount of nitric acid, replace the data on the equation for purity in order to calculate the total
mass of impure sample.

𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒

% 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 = ∗ 100
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒

Mass of impure sample: 310.57 g of nitric acid at 70%

Stoichiometry Ms. Airinne Guardo – 10th Grade - GAC