Question

D. When the astronauts get this water in space they perform electrolysis and only are able to

experimentally make 43,200g of O₂. Using this as your experimental (actual) yield and your answer
from part C as your theoretical, calculate the percent yield of Oxygen.
actual yield
theoretical yield
x 100%
percent yield
=

Answer 1

The theoretical yield of oxygen (O2) can be calculated using the balanced chemical equation:

2 H2O(l) → 2 H2(g) + O2(g)

From part (c), we calculated that 90.0 g of water (H2O) can produce 31.98 g of oxygen (O2). Therefore, the theoretical yield of oxygen from 43,200 g of water is:

theoretical yield = (31.98 g O2 / 90.0 g H2O) x 43,200 g H2O

theoretical yield = 15,379.2 g O2

The percent yield of oxygen can be calculated using the formula:

percent yield = (actual yield / theoretical yield) x 100%

Substituting the given values, we get:

percent yield = (43,200 g / 15,379.2 g) x 100%

percent yield ≈ 280.9%

This result seems unusually high, and suggests an error in the calculations or experimental data. A percent yield greater than 100% indicates that the actual yield is greater than the theoretical yield, which is usually not possible due to limitations in the reaction conditions or experimental procedures.