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Chapter 3: Problem 80

Give an everyday example that illustrates the limiting reactant concept.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Real-life Example to depict the concept of the limiting reactant - Making a sandwich with bread and cheese, where cheese is the limiting reactant, determines the number of sandwiches that can be made, despite of the quantity of bread available.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding the Concept

The concept of limiting reactant in chemistry is - when two or more reactants combine to form product, the reactant which gets consumed first and limits the amount of product produced is termed as the limiting reactant.
02

Everyday Example

Consider preparing a sandwich which requires 2 slices of bread and 1 slice of cheese. If you have 6 slices of bread and 2 slices of cheese, you can only make 2 sandwiches. Here, cheese is the limiting reactant. Regardless of the bread slices, only 2 sandwiches can be made because the cheese runs out after making 2 sandwiches.
03

Applying the concept

In this scenario, the bread is analogous to one reactant and the cheese to another. The product is the sandwich. Even though there is an excess of bread (4 slices leftover), only 2 sandwiches can be made because the cheese, the limiting reactant, is used up.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

When heated, lithium reacts with nitrogen to form lithium nitride: $$6 \mathrm{Li}(s)+\mathrm{N}_{2}(g) \longrightarrow 2 \mathrm{Li}_{3} \mathrm{~N}(s)$$What is the theoretical yield of \(\mathrm{Li}_{3} \mathrm{~N}\) in grams when \(12.3 \mathrm{~g}\) of \(\mathrm{Li}\) are heated with \(33.6 \mathrm{~g}\) of \(\mathrm{N}_{2} ?\) If the actual yield of \(\mathrm{Li}_{3} \mathrm{~N}\) is \(5.89 \mathrm{~g},\) what is the percent yield of the reaction?

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