Question

When 10 moles of O₂ reacts with 1.4 moles of C₁₀H₈ what is the limiting reactant? *

Answer 1

O2 is the limiting reactant.

Step-by-step explanation:

We'll begin by writing the balanced equation for the reaction. This is given below:

2C10H18 + 29O2 —> 20CO2 + 18H2O

The limiting reactant can be obtained as follow:

From the balanced equation above,

2 moles of C10H18 reacted with 29 moles of O2.

Therefore, 1.4 mole of C10H18 will react with = (1.4 x 29)/2 = 20.3 moles of O2.

From the above calculation, we can see that it will take a higher amount of O2 i.e 20.3 moles than what was given i.e 10 moles to react completely with 1.4 mole of C10H18. Therefore, O2 is the limiting reactant and C10H18 is the excess reactant.