If your body takes in 20 moles of O_2 from the air, and you eat 45 moles of sugar, which is the limiting reactant?

1 Answer
anor277
Mar 16, 2016

C_6H_12O_6 + 6O_2 rarr 6CO_2 + 6H_2O + "heat"

Clearly, oxygen is the limiting reagent.

Explanation:

I have simplified glucose metabolism with a simple combustion reaction. The balanced combustion equation clearly indicates that each mole of sugar, C_6H_12O_6, requires 6 mol of dioxygen gas for combustion.

Needless to say, this scenario is a bit unrealistic. Who would eat over 8 kilograms of sugar in one sitting?

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