If 25.0 L of HCl is reacted with 50.0 L of O2, what is the limiting reactant for 4 HCl (g) + O2 (g) → 2 Cl2 (g) + 2H2O (g)?
1 Answer
Sep 16, 2014
The limiting reactant is HCl.
You use the usual method for finding limiting reactants.
In your problem, the balanced equation is
4HCl(g) + O₂(g) → 2Cl₂(g) + 2H₂O(g)
According to Gay-Lussac's Law of Combining Volumes, gases react in fixed ratios by volume. We can re-write the equation as
4 L HCl(g) + 1 L O₂(g) → 2 L Cl₂(g) + 2 L H₂O(g)
So we can skip Step 2 and go directly to Step 3. We can use the gas volumes instead of moles to find the limiting reactant.
From HCl: 25.0 L HCl ×
From O₂: 50.0 L 0_2 ×
So the limiting reactant is HCl.