Chemistry Lab Report

Experiment (3): Limiting Reactants

1- Aim: To determine the limiting reagent and percentage yield of

a chemical reaction.

2- Introduction:
Limiting Reactant: The reactant in a chemical reaction that limits the
amount of product that can be formed. The reaction will stop when all
of the limiting reactant is consumed.
Excess Reactant: The reactant in a chemical reaction that remains when
a reaction stops when the limiting reactant is completely consumed. The
excess reactant remains because there is nothing with which it can react

No matter how many tires there are, if there are

only 8 car bodies, then only 8 cars can be made.
Likewise with chemistry, if there is only a certain
amount of one reactant available for a reaction,
the reaction must stop when that reactant is
consumed whether or not the other reactant has
been used up.

3- Apparatus and Chemical:

Funnel, Graduated Cylinder, Filter Paper, Conical

Apparatus
Flasks, Beaker, Distilled water bottle, watch glass.
Chemical K2CrO4 AgNO3 - Distilled water.

4- Discussion:

1- Using graduated cylinders measure 20.0 ml of 0.125 ml of AgNO3

solution and 13.0 ml of K 2CrO4 solution.
2- Mix the two solutions together in a 250 ml beaker.

(1)
 3- Leave the mixture to settle down. Meanwhile, weight a filter paper
labeled with your initials.
4- Filter the solid on the labeled filter paper, put it on a watch glass
and place it in the oven to dry.
5- Weigh the solid and filter the paper then re-dry in the oven and re-
weigh until you get a constant weight.

5- Results:

Molarity AgNO3 0.125 M

Volume AgNO3 20.0 ml
Molarity K2CrO4 0.100 M
Volume K2CrO4 13.0 ml
Wight of filter Paper 1.146 g
Wight of filter Paper + Ag 2CrO4 1.548 g
Wight of Ag2CrO4 (experimental yield) 1.548 g 1.146 g = 0.402 g

6- Calculation:

1- Determine the limiting reagent. The equation for the

reaction is:
2AgNO3 (aq) + K2CrO4 (aq) 2KNO3 (aq) + Ag2CrO4 (s)
Moles of AgNO 3 = M*V = 0.125 M*0.02 L = 2.5*10^-3 mol
Moles of K2CrO4 = M*V = 0.100 M * 0.013 = 1.3*10^-3 mol
(1) 2 moles of AgNO3 = 1 mol of Ag2CrO4
2.5*10^-3 mole of AgNO3 = X1
X1= 1.25*10^-3 mole of Ag2CrO4
(2) 1 mole of K2CrO4 = 1 mole of Ag 2CrO4
1.3*10^-3 mole of AgNO3 = X 2
X2 = 1.3*10^-3 mole of Ag2CrO4
The limiting reagent is X 2 (K2CrO4)

2- Calculate the theoretical yield.

Theoretical yield=mole Ag2CrO4*M.m Ag 2CrO4=(1.25*10^-3)*33.17=
0.415 g

(2)
3- Calculate the % yield.
% yield = (Experiment yield/Theoretical yield)*100
=(0.402/0.415)*100= 96.9%

7- Conclusion: we learn from this experiment how to determine

the limiting reactant percentage yield of a chemical reaction. The
limiting reactant is AgNO3 and the theoretical yield 96.9%.

8- Questions:

1- Suggest reasons why the actual yield of a reaction is

almost always less than the theoretical yield.
(1) The precipitation has not filtered well.
(2) The precipitation has not hated and dried completely.
(3) Differences in measuring the substances.

2- Hydrogen chloride (HCl) can be prepared in the

laboratory by heating sodium chloride (NaCl) with
concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4).
NaCl (s) + H2SO4 (l) NaHSO4 (aq) + HCl (s)

(1) 1 mol NaCl = 1 mol HCl

56.44g of NaCl = 36.46g HCl
10.0g of NaCl = X
X = 6.24g of HCl
(2) 1 mol H2SO4 = 1 mol HCl
98.09 g of H2SO4 = 36.46g of HCl
10.0 g of H2SO4 = y
Y = 3.72g of HCl

a- What is the limiting reactant? H2SO4

b- How many grams of hydrogen chloride gas are
produced when the reaction is complete?
3.72 g of HCl

(3)