What are limiting reactants?

1 Answer
Sarthak
Aug 30, 2017

Limiting reactants or limiting reagents decide the amount of product formed and the amount of excess reagent used.

Explanation:

A limiting reactant is that reactant that is completely used up in a reaction. It is found out by dividing the stoichiometric coefficients of the given reactants with the number of moles used.For example,
In the reaction below, if we take #2 mol# of #N_2 and H_2#,

#N_(2(g)) + 3H_(2(g)) rightleftharpoons 2NH_(3(g))#

For #N_2#,

ratio is #2/1#

For #H_2#

ratio is #2/3#

The ratio for #H_2# < #N_2#.So, for this reaction, #H_2# is the limiting reactant and #N_2# is the excess reactant i.e present in excess quantity

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