Limiting Reactant

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Created by
Jennifer Killelea

Cards (2)

  • If there are two reactants in a chemical reaction and there is an excess (more than needed) of one of them, then the other reactant is called the limiting reactant
  • The equation for the reaction between zinc and hydrochloric acid is:
    Zn(s) + 2HCl(aq) -> ZnCl2(aq) +H2(g)
    If 0.1mol of Zinc is added to 0.3 mol of hydrochloric acid what is the limiting reactant?
    From the equation 2 mol of hydrochloric acid react with 1 mol of zinc, and this means that 0.1 mol of zinc needs exactly 0.2 mol of hydrochloric acid to react. This means that 0.3 mol of hydrochloric acid is in excess and the limiting reactant is zinc. Because there is 0.1 mol of zinc this means that we will get 0.1 mol of hydrogen and 0.1 mol of zinc chloride