Final answer:
The question involves determining the limiting reactant in a chemical reaction related to gallium chloride. If gallium is in excess, chlorine is the limiting reactant, and the amount of gallium chloride produced depends on the amount of chlorine and the stoichiometric ratio.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question is asking about the limiting reactant in a chemical reaction involving gallium chloride. When dealing with chemical reactions, if one of the reactants is present in excess, the other reactant is known as the limiting reactant because it gets entirely consumed first and thus limits the amount of product that can be formed.
Determining the limiting reactant is crucial as it will dictate the theoretical yield of the reaction.
For example, if we are reacting gallium with chlorine to form gallium chloride and gallium is in excess, we would determine the moles of gallium chloride produced by calculating the moles of chlorine used.
To calculate the number of moles of gallium chloride produced, we would need to know the stoichiometric ratio and the molar masses of the reactants.
In the case where the stoichiometric ratio involves one gallium atom reacting with three chlorine atoms to make one unit of gallium chloride (GaCl3), we can apply this ratio to determine the maximum amount of GaCl3 that could be formed.
If gallium is in excess, then the chlorine is the limiting reactant, and the theoretical yield of GaCl3 is based on the amount of chlorine.