{"id":220079,"date":"2025-05-27T13:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=220079"},"modified":"2025-05-27T13:00:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:00:19","slug":"determine-the-limiting-reagent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/27\/determine-the-limiting-reagent\/","title":{"rendered":"Determine the Limiting reagent."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Determine the Limiting reagent.<br>Using the balanced equation, determine the limiting reagent. The limiting reagent will be used to calculate the concentration of the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can locate the mass of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate on the Alka-Seltzer package<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reagents<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mass (mg)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Molar Mass<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sodium Bicarbonate<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1916<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Citric Acid<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1000<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-0-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine the <strong>limiting reagent<\/strong>, we need to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Convert the <strong>mass of each reagent<\/strong> to <strong>moles<\/strong> using their <strong>molar masses<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use the <strong>balanced chemical equation<\/strong> to find the <strong>stoichiometric ratio<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Determine which reagent is <strong>limiting<\/strong> \u2014 the one that gets used up first in the reaction.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step 1: Balanced Chemical Equation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The reaction between <strong>citric acid (H\u2083C\u2086H\u2085O\u2087)<\/strong> and <strong>sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO\u2083)<\/strong> is: H\u2083C\u2086H\u2085O\u2087+3NaHCO\u2083\u2192Na\u2083C\u2086H\u2085O\u2087+3CO\u2082+3H\u2082O\\text{H\u2083C\u2086H\u2085O\u2087} + 3\\text{NaHCO\u2083} \\rightarrow \\text{Na\u2083C\u2086H\u2085O\u2087} + 3\\text{CO\u2082} + 3\\text{H\u2082O}<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This tells us that <strong>1 mole of citric acid<\/strong> reacts with <strong>3 moles of sodium bicarbonate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step 2: Moles of Each Reagent<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Molar Mass of Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO\u2083)<\/strong> = 84.01 g\/mol<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Molar Mass of Citric Acid (H\u2083C\u2086H\u2085O\u2087)<\/strong> = 192.13 g\/mol<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Convert mass to grams:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sodium bicarbonate: 1916 mg = 1.916 g<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Citric acid: 1000 mg = 1.000 g<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now calculate moles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Moles of NaHCO\u2083<\/strong> = 1.916 g \/ 84.01 g\/mol \u2248 <strong>0.02281 mol<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Moles of H\u2083C\u2086H\u2085O\u2087<\/strong> = 1.000 g \/ 192.13 g\/mol \u2248 <strong>0.00521 mol<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step 3: Determine Limiting Reagent<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the balanced equation, we need 3 moles of NaHCO\u2083 for every mole of citric acid:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Required moles of NaHCO\u2083 for 0.00521 mol citric acid = 0.00521 \u00d7 3 = <strong>0.01563 mol<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We have <strong>0.02281 mol<\/strong> of NaHCO\u2083 available, which is <strong>more than enough<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, <strong>citric acid is the limiting reagent<\/strong>, as it will be completely consumed first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion (Explanation)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In chemical reactions, the limiting reagent is the substance that is completely consumed when the reaction is complete. The amount of product formed depends on this reagent. In this case, by using the masses given on the Alka-Seltzer package and converting them to moles, we find that citric acid provides only 0.00521 mol. Given the 1:3 reaction ratio, it would require only 0.01563 mol of sodium bicarbonate, which is less than the 0.02281 mol available. Hence, citric acid will run out first and <strong>limits the extent of the reaction<\/strong>. This makes it the <strong>limiting reagent<\/strong>, and any calculations for products (like CO\u2082 production or final concentrations) must be based on the amount of citric acid present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/learnexams-banner4-43.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-220080\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Determine the Limiting reagent.Using the balanced equation, determine the limiting reagent. The limiting reagent will be used to calculate the concentration of the solution. You can locate the mass of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate on the Alka-Seltzer package Reagents Mass (mg) Molar Mass Sodium Bicarbonate 1916 Citric Acid 1000 The Correct Answer and Explanation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}