The Concept of Limiting Reactant, Excess Reactant, and Theoretical Yield Explained Through Smores

What are the concepts of limiting reactant, excess reactant, and theoretical yield?

Can you provide a practical example using smores to explain these concepts?

Answer:

Limiting reactant: graham crackers

Excess reactants: chocolate and marshmallows

Theoretical yield: 5/2 smores

Limiting reactant is the reactant in a chemical reaction that limits the amount of product that can be formed. In the case of smores, the graham crackers are the limiting reactant because there are only 5 of them available.

Excess reactants, on the other hand, are the reactants that remain when a reaction stops because the limiting reactant is completely consumed. In the smores example, the excess reactants are the chocolate and marshmallows since there are more of them than needed to react with the available graham crackers.

The theoretical yield is the quantity of a product obtained from the complete conversion of the limiting reactant in a chemical reaction. In this case, if all 5 graham crackers are used to make smores, the theoretical yield would be 5/2 smores.

By understanding these concepts through the example of making smores, you can grasp the fundamental principles of limiting reactant, excess reactant, and theoretical yield in chemical reactions.