Question

1. a) Anthony and Joseph create a start up company to make batteries for electric cars. Iron(III) phosphate is needed to create the batteries. If 27.8 grams of iron (II) chloride reacts with 61.9 grams of sodium phosphate, what is the limiting reagent?
FeCl3(aq) + Na3PO4(aq) FePO4(s) + 3 NaCl(aq)

Answer 1

Answer:

 LR is Na₃PO₄  

Explanation:

A quick way to determine the limiting reactant in a process is to convert reactant values to moles and then divide by the respective coefficient of the balanced equation. The smaller number of the division is the limiting reactant. For the given reaction, the rxn ratio of reactants is 1:1 so only the smaller mole value gives limiting reactant. However, if the reaction is NOT 1:1 the one must divide by respective coefficient to identify the smallest value and the limiting reactant.

This problem:

                          FeCl3(aq)          +    Na3PO4(aq)   => FePO4(s) + 3 NaCl(aq)

Given:                  27.8g                          61.9g

moles:        27.8g/162.2g/mole      1.9g/163.94g/mole

                    = 0.1714 mole               = 0.0116 mole

÷ coef.         => 0.1714/1 = 0.1714      => 0.0116/1 = 0.0116

smaller value is LR => =>  =>  =>  => => LR is Na₃PO₄              

Hope this helps. Doc :-)