(c) Why should you base your choice of which compound is the limiting reactant on its number of initial moles, not on its initial mass in grams?

Question

Accepted Answer

Hey everyone in this example, we need to consider which of the following statements about limiting reactant sits true. So we want to recall before analyzing our statements that they limiting reactant is the reactant consumed or we can say fully consumed first in a chemical reaction. And so based on us recalling that fact, Let's go ahead and start analyzing the given statements and statement A. It says that the maximum massive products formed in a reaction does not depend on the quantity of the limiting reactant. We would totally disagree with that. We would say that this is false, so we'll just write false instead of that. We would say that this is false due to the fact that we know that we determine the limiting reactant by the lowest amount of moles or grams of our product that forms. And so we would want to find the minimum mass of our product formed by our limiting or to determine our limiting reactant. So we would rule out choice A. It's a false statement. Moving on to statement B. It says that at the end of the reaction there is some amount of limiting reactant left. We would also disagree with B and say that this is false due to the fact that a limiting reactant is going to be fully consumed. As we stated here below. Moving on to statement see, it says that the limiting reactant determines how fast or slow a chemical reaction will proceed. We would also state that this is false because this is actually determined by our activation energy. So we can rule out choice C. And now we have choice D, which states that the limiting reactant is the one which is consumed first in a chemical reaction. And we would completely agree with statement D. Because that is exactly what we recalled below. So D. Is our final answer to complete this example. If you have any questions, please leave them down below, and I will see everyone in the next practice video.

(c) Why should you base your choice of which compound is the limiting reactant on its number of initial moles, not on its initial mass in grams?

Verified Solution

Key Concepts

Limiting Reactant

Mole Concept

Stoichiometry