If 6.5g of zinc reacts with 5g of HCl
Zn+2Hcl=zncl2+Hcl
Which substance is limiting reactants?
To determine the limiting reactant, we need to compare the moles of each reactant.
The molar mass of zinc (Zn) is 65.38 g/mol.
The molar mass of hydrochloric acid (HCl) is 36.461 g/mol.
First, we need to calculate the moles of each reactant.
Moles of Zn = 6.5 g / 65.38 g/mol = 0.0994 mol
Moles of HCl = 5 g / 36.461 g/mol = 0.137 mol
According to the balanced equation, the stoichiometric ratio between Zn and HCl is 1:2.
This means that for every 1 mole of Zn, we need 2 moles of HCl.
Since the stoichiometry ratio is 1:2, it means that we would need 0.1988 moles (2 × 0.0994 mol) of HCl to react completely with 0.0994 moles of Zn.
Therefore, the limiting reactant is HCl because we have only 0.137 moles of HCl, which is less than the required amount (0.1988 moles) to completely react with 0.0994 moles of Zn.