Limiting Reactant Lab

Data Table:

Grams of baking soda 

Green - 1

Purp- 2.5

White- 4

Blue- 10.75

Circumfrence (cm)

Green- 15.5

Purp- 26

White- 35

Blue- 40

Radius (cm)

Green- 2.47

Purp- 4.14

White- 5.57

Blue- 6.37

Volume (cm^3)

Green- 63.12

Purp- 297.23

White- 723.86

Blue- 1082.7

Analysis Questions:

1. What are the limiting and excess reagents for each flask? How did you determine this?

       For the first 3 flasks, the limiting reactant was the baking soda. For the 4th flask, the vinegar was the limiting reactant. You can easily determine this by seeing if there is baking soda left in the flask. if there is, then the vinegar was all used up, so the reaction cannot continue. However, if there is no baking soda left this means that it was used up and is the limiting reactant.

2. How is the amount of product in a reaction affected by an insufficient quantity of any of the reactants (reagents)?

       The amount of product in a reaction is affected by an insufficient quantity of any of the reactants because if the reaction runs out of products, then the reaction can no longer take place. This also means that no more product will be produced. There will be a left over of the excess product, which is whichever product is not fully used up.

3. Which balloon was the largest? Explain.

       The largest balloon was the one that we put the most baking soda in, the blue one. We put about 10.75 grams of baking soda in this balloon, much more than the other ones. In this case, the baking soda was not the limiting reactant because there was still some left in the bottom of the flask after the reaction had finished. This meant that the vinegar was the limiting reactant.

4. Which balloon was the smallest? Explain.

       The smallest balloon was the one that we put the least amount of baking soda in. We only put 1 gram of baking into the green balloon, so it was used up the fastest and produced the least amount of carbon dioxide.

5. Rust is produced when iron reacts with oxygen. How many grams of Fe2O3 are produced when 12.0 g of iron rusts?4Fe(s) + 3O2(g) → 2Fe2O3(s)

        12 g Fe   |  1 mole of Fe   |  2 mole Fe2O3  |  160 g Fe2O3
       -----------------------------------------------------------------------       =  17.14 g Fe2O3 are produced
                        |  56 g Fe           |  4 mole Fe        |  1 mole Fe2O3

6. What real-life applications can this concept of limiting and excess reagents be applied to?

       Limiting reactants can be applied to manufacturing. For example, if you are making a product and use different but limited amounts of components to make these products, then you will eventual run out of one of the components. This will result in no longer being able to produce a product. This is like how in a reaction, if you run out of a reactant, that reactant limits the amount product receive.


Pictures:

The flasks in the order of the least amount of baking soda to the most