So, 6 moles of H 2 will produce 6 moles of H 2O: Remember, this is determined based on the mole ratio of H 2 and H 2O, which is 2:2 (the coefficients) in front of each molecule. In order to determine the limiting reactant, we need to determine which of the reactants will give less product.Īccording to the balanced chemical equation, every 2 moles of H 2 will yield 2 moles of H 2O. Now let’s go back to the mixture of 6 moles of hydrogen gas and 4 moles of oxygen gas. That is why the wheels are the limiting factor in that process. Similar to the example with vehicles two bodies can give two cars, but seven wheels can only be used to construct one car. Take home lesson – to determine the limiting reactant in a chemical reaction, you need to always determine which reactant will produce less product.
In order to prepare two vehicles, you would need to have two bodies and eight wheels, so there are not enough wheels, or, in other words, the wheels are the limiting factor here. If there are two bodies and seven wheels, this doesn’t mean that the bodies are the limiting factor even though there is only two of them compared to the seven wheels. Every vehicle requires one body and four wheels. Instead of people and chairs, where every person needed one chair, let’s consider the ratio (relative amounts) of car bodies and wheels needed to prepare one vehicle.
The short answer is because H 2 and O 2 react with different mole ratio: However, when it comes to determining the limiting reactant (LR) in chemical reactions, it is slightly different as we cannot determine the limiting reactant just by looking at the initial amounts of the reactants.įor example, if we mix together 6 moles of hydrogen gas and 4 moles of oxygen gas, we cannot say that the oxygen is the limiting reactant even though yes, it is present in less quantity. The same situation occurs in chemical reactions, where one of the reactants is less than the other one and there is not enough of it to consume/react with all the second reactant. We would all agree that the number of chairs or simply the chair is the limiting factor in this situation since there is simply not enough of them. What is the limiting reactant? Let’s consider a situation where five people need to take a seat but there are only four chairs available. Transcript of the video and more practice problems below
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