NPHS / ChemH

Problem Set: Limiting Reactant and Percent Yield

1. Carbon monoxide can be combined with hydrogen to produce methanol, CH3OH. If you had 152.5 g CO and 24.50 g H2, how many kilograms of CH3OH would be produced? (Hint: make sure equation is balanced first!)

CO + 2H2 è CH3OH

CO is limiting 0.1743Kg will be produced

2. The hydrochloric acid, HCl, secreted in your stomach can be neutralized by taking an antacid like aluminum hydroxide, Al(OH) 3. If 34.0 g HCl are secreted and 12.0 g Al(OH) 3 are taken, is there enough Al(OH) 3 to react with all of the HCl? (balance eq. first)

3HCl + Al(OH) 3 è AlCl3 + 3H2O

34.0g HCl needs 24.2 g Al(OH)3 to react completely, 12.0g Al(OH)3 is not enough

3. Ammonia, NH3, is used throughout the world as a fertilizer. To manufacture ammonia, nitrogen, N2, is combined with hydrogen, H2, in a synthesis reaction.

a) Write a balanced chemical equation for the formation of ammonia.

b) If 92.7 kg N2 and 265.8 kg H2 are used, which is the limiting reactant?

4. Using the same reaction for the production of ammonia as in #3, determine the percent yield when 400.0 kg of H2 are added to an excess of N2, and 1040. kg of NH3 are produced.

5. A standard laboratory preparation of iodine is the following reaction:

NaI + MnO2 + H2SO4 è Na2SO4 + MnSO4 + H2O + I2

When 62.55 g of NaI are used with excess amounts of the other reactants, the actual yield of iodine (I2) was 39.78 g. What is the percent yield?

6. Titanium (IV) oxide, TiO2, is used as a pigment in paints and as a whitening and coating agent for paper. It can be made by reacting O2 with TiCl4.

TiCl4 + O2 è TiO2 + 2 Cl2 (already balanced)

a) If 4.5 mol of TiCl4 react with 3.5 mol O2, identify both the limiting and excess reactants.

b) How many moles of excess reactant will remain if the reaction goes to completion?

c) How many moles of each product should be formed if the reaction goes to completion?


7. How much nitric acid, HNO3, is produced when NO2 gas is bubbled under pressure through 100.0 g of H2O? (Assume the reaction goes to completion)

3NO2 + H2O è 2HNO3 + NO (already balanced)

8. When phosphorus burns in the presence of oxygen, P4O10 is produced. In turn, P4O10 reacts with water to produce phosphoric acid, which is one of the compounds found in acid precipitation.

P4O10 + H2O è H3PO4

a) Write a balanced equation for this reaction.

b) When 100.0 g of P4O10 are reacted with 200.0 g of H2O, what is the theoretical yield of phosphoric acid?

c) If the actual yield is 126.24 g of H3PO4, what is the percent yield for this reaction?

9. Coal gasification is a process that converts coal into methane gas. If this reaction has a percent yield of 85.0%, how much methane can be obtained from 1250 g of carbon?

2C + 2H2O è CH4 + CO2

10. If the percent yield for the coal gasification process in problem #9 can be increased to 95.0%, how much methane can be obtained from 2750 g of carbon?