Question

6 moles of benzene react with 33.75 moles of oxygen to

produce carbon dioxide through the chemical reaction below.

2C6H6 + 1502 +12CO2 + 6H2O

What is the limiting reactant in this reaction?

Answer 1

Oxygen, O2 is the limiting reactant.

Step-by-step explanation:

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

2C6H6 + 15O2 —> 12CO2 + 6H2O

Next, we shall determine the limiting reactant as follow:

From the balanced equation above,

2 moles of C6H6 reacted with 15 moles of O2.

Therefore, 6 moles of C6H6 will react with = (6 x 15)/2 = 45 moles of O2.

From the calculations made above, we can see that it will take a higher amount of O2 i.e 45 moles than what was given i.e 33.75 moles of O2 to react completely with 6 moles of C6H6.

Therefore, O2 is the limiting reactant and C6H6 is the excess reactant.