Limiting Reactants

- In chemical reactions,  usually one chemical gets used up before the other
  - the chemical used up first is called the limiting reactant
  - once it is used up the reaction stops
  - L.R. Determines the quantity of products formed
- To find the L.R. assume one reactant is used up. Determine how much of this reactant is required

ex. 2.5 mol of CuSO4 reacts with 2.5 mol of NaNO3. Determine the L.R. and calculate how many moles of Na2SO4 are formed

CuSO4 + 2NaNO3 -> Na2SO4 + Cu(NO3)2
2.5 mol * 2/1 = 5 mol of NaNO3 needed
2.5 mol * 1/2 = 1.25 mol of CuSO4 needed
- NaNO3 is the L.R.

- JanCarlo Paysan