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?

Related questions
See all questions in Limiting Reagent
Impact of this question
1363 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License