Question

If we have 1.23 mol of NaOH in solution and 0.85 mol of Cl2 gas is available to react, which one is the limiting reactant? Give your reason.​

Answer 1

NaOH is the limiting reactant.

Step-by-step explanation:

Hello there!

In this case, since the reaction taking place between sodium hydroxide and chlorine has is:

`NaOH+Cl_2\rightarrow NaCl+NaClO+H_2O`

Which must be balanced according to the law of conservation of mass:

`2NaOH+Cl_2\rightarrow NaCl+NaClO+H_2O`

Whereas there is a 2:1 mole ratio of NaOH to Cl2, which means that the moles of the former that are consumed by 0.85 moles of the latter are:

`n_(NaOH)=0.85molCl_2*(2molNaOH)/(1molCl_2)\\\\n_( NaOH)=1.7molNaOH`

Therefore, since we just have 1.23 moles out of 1.70 moles of NaOH, we infer this is the limiting reactant.

Regards!