Limiting Reactants

Objective

Students will determine the limiting

reactant from a given amount of reactants
by applying the law of conservation of
matter.
Students will show attainment of the
objective by answering a series of limiting
reactant problems and creating their own
limiting reactant problem.
California Content Standard

1) The conservation of atoms in chemical reactions

leads to the principle of conservation of matter
and the ability to calculate the mass of products
and reactants. As a basis for understanding this
concept:
a) Students know how to describe chemical
reactions by writing balanced equations
e) Students know how to calculate the masses of
reactants and products in a chemical reaction
from the mass of one of the reactants or
products and the relevant atomic masses.
Introduction

The Port of Long Beach is one of the world's busiest

seaports, a leading gateway for trade between the
United States and Asia. It supports millions of jobs
nationally and provides consumers and businesses with
billions of dollars in goods each year.
East Asian trade accounts for more than 90% of the
shipments through the port.
Some of the top imports include petroleum, electronics,
plastics, furniture, and clothing. Some of the top
exports include petroleum & petroleum coke, waste
paper, chemicals, scrap metal, and plastic.
In this lesson, students will learn how to use a balanced
equation to determine the ratio between the quantity of
reactants by using an analogy involving the exporting of
chemicals through the Port of Long Beach.
Anticipatory Set

Anytime a product is assembled from parts, one

missing part will prevent a complete product from
being assembled. This is true when building
bicycles, making sandwiches, and performing
chemical reactions.
Anticipatory Set (continued)

Suppose you work in a sandwich shop and you

received a rush order for 1000 turkey and cheese
sandwiches.

(It requires 2 slices of bread, 1 slice of cheese, and

3 slices of turkey to make 1 sandwich.)

2B + 1C + 3T  B2CT3
Anticipatory Set (continued)

Can you fulfill this order if your sandwich shop is

stocked with 2600 slices of bread, 1200 slices of
cheese, and 2700 slices of turkey?

How many sandwiches can you make?

Anticipatory Set (continued)

Quantities are not always given in number of

items.

Suppose your deli is stocked with:

• 150 loaves of bread (1 loaf has 20 slices)

• 20 pounds of cheese (1 lbs. has 40 slices)
• 60 lbs. of turkey (1 lbs. has 20 slices).
Anticipatory Set (continued)

• How many whole sandwiches can you make?

• Which ingredient ran out?

• How many slices of excess ingredients remain?

Input

When a chemical reaction is performed in the

laboratory, chemists often supply the necessary
amount of reactants so that one reactant will not
run out before the other.

When chemicals are mixed together in these

quantities, the mixture is said to be stoichiometric.
However, stoichiometric mixtures are not always
practical or desired for every reaction.
Port Analogy

Suppose the Port of Long Beach exports two containers

holding chemicals (A and B) to be assembled oversees.
The chemical to be assembled has a molecular
formula of AB2, that is it takes one A and two B’s to
produce one AB2
Skeleton Equation

Chemists use what is called a skeleton equation to

illustrate the bare bones of a chemical reaction.

The skeleton equation for the this reaction is:

A + B  AB2
Balanced Equation

In a chemical reaction, atoms are neither created nor

destroyed. In a balanced chemical equation there must
be the same number of each type of atom on the
reactant and product sides of the arrow.

The balanced equation for this reaction is:

A + 2B  AB2
Using a Balanced Equation

If the port exports 1000 ‘A’ containers and 1000 ‘B’

containers, how many ‘AB2’ containers can be
assembled?

As you probably realized, the amount of products

that could be assembled is based on the amount of
reactants supplied.

Since the product requires 2 ‘B’s for every 1 ‘A’,

1000 ‘A’ containers would require 2000 ‘B’
containers.

In this case ‘B’ would run out before ‘A’. The

reactant that runs out first in a chemical reaction is
called the limiting reactant.
Use of the Limiting Reactant

What does this information tell us?

It tells us how much product can be made. If one of the
reactants runs out, no more product can be made.

Calculating the amount of product produced must be

done with the limiting reactant.

Therefore, 500 products can be made from this reaction.

1A
1000 B × = 500 AB2
2B
The reactant that remains is called the excess
reactant
How to Identify the Limiting
Reactant

Identify the limiting reactant when 500 ‘A’

containers reacts with 1200 ‘B’ containers.

The solution to this problem can be found in many

ways. Here is an example of one of those ways.

• Choose a reactant (either A or B).

• Use the quantity of that reactant to find out how

much of the other reactant is needed.
 2B
500 A × = 1000 B containers required
1A

Since you have 1200 ‘B’ containers and only need

1000 ‘B’ containers, this is the excess reactant.
Container ‘A’ must be the limiting reactant.
 Or

1A
1200 B × = 600 A containers required
2B

Since you have 500 ‘A’ containers and need a total

of 600 ‘A’ containers, this is the limiting reactant.
Container ‘B’ must be in excess.
As you can see, the limiting reactant can be
identified from either reactant and the ratio
between the reactants.

The ratios used in this exercise come from the

coefficients used to balance the equation.

A + 2B  AB2
1A 2B
2B 1A
and
Guided Practice Question 1

For the reaction shown, find the limiting reactant

when 0.90 mol of Cr reacts with 0.60 mol of O2.

4Cr + 3O2  2Cr2O3

0.90 mol Cr x 3 mol O2 = 0.68 mol O2 required

4 mol Cr

You have only 0.60 mol O2, therefore O2 is the

limiting reactant.
Guided Practice Question 2

Find the limiting reactant when 5.0 mol Mg reacts

with 4.0 mol O2.
2Mg + O2  2MgO
Guided Practice Question 3

Calculate the amount of moles of Al needed to

react completely with 5.0 mol CuCl2. (The
equation below is not balanced.)

Al + CuCl2  Cu + AlCl3

2Al + 3CuCl2  3Cu + 2AlCl3

5.0 mol CuCl2 x 2 mol Al = 3.3 mol Al

3 mol CuCl2
Guided Practice Question 4

Identify the limiting reactant and calculate how

much excess reactant will remain when 2.0 mol Na
reacts with 1.0 mol O2? (The equation below is not
balanced.)

4Na + O2  2Na2O
Guided Practice Question 5

Write the mole ratio that you would use to

calculate the amount of oxygen needed to react
with methane. (The equation below is not
balanced.)

CH4 + O2  CO2 + H2O

Closing Activity

Reread the anticipatory set and write a scenario

that involves a limiting reactant similar to the
sandwich analogy.

Write your own scenario involving a limiting

reactant and exchange your problem with another
classmate. Answer their question, exchange again
and grade their response.