Percent Yield: Chemfile Mini-Guide To Problem Solving
Percent Yield: Chemfile Mini-Guide To Problem Solving
Percent Yield: Chemfile Mini-Guide To Problem Solving
Date
Class
Percent Yield
Although we can write perfectly balanced equations to represent perfect
reactions, the reactions themselves are often not perfect. A reaction does
not always produce the quantity of products that the balanced equation
seems to guarantee. This happens not because the equation is wrong but
because reactions in the real world seldom produce perfect results.
As an example of an imperfect reaction, look again at the equation that
shows the industrial production of ammonia.
N2(g) 3H2(g) : 2NH3(g)
In the manufacture of ammonia, it is nearly impossible to produce 2 mol
(34.08 g) of NH3 from the simple reaction of 1 mol (28.02 g) of N2 and
3 mol (6.06 g) of H2 because some ammonia molecules begin breaking
down into N2 and H2 molecules as soon as they are formed.
There are several reasons that real-world reactions do not produce
products at a yield of 100%. Some are simple mechanical reasons,
such as:
Reactants or products leak out, especially when they are gases.
The reactants are not 100% pure.
Some product is lost when it is puried.
There are also many chemical reasons, including:
The products decompose back into reactants (as with the ammonia
process).
The products react to form different substances.
Some of the reactants react in ways other than the one shown in the
equation. These are called side reactions.
The reaction occurs very slowly. This is especially true of reactions involving organic substances.
Chemists are very concerned with the yields of reactions because they
must nd ways to carry out reactions economically and on a large scale.
If the yield of a reaction is too small, the products may not be competitive in the marketplace. If a reaction has only a 50% yield, it produces
only 50% of the amount of product that it theoretically should. In this
chapter, you will learn how to solve problems involving real-world reactions and percent yield.
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Name
Date
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Mass of
reactants
2
Convert using
the molar
mass of the
reactants.
Amount of
reactants Convert using
in mol
the mole
ratio of the
limiting
reactant to
the product.
Theoretical
amount of
product in mol
Convert
using the
molar mass
of the
product.
Percent
yield
% yield
Theoretical
mass of
product
actual yield
100
theoretical yield
Actual
mass of
product
SAMPLE PROBLEM 1
Dichlorine monoxide, Cl2O is sometimes used as a powerful
chlorinating agent in research. It can be produced by passing
chlorine gas over heated mercury(II) oxide according to the
following equation:
HgO Cl2 B HgCl2 Cl2O
What is the percent yield, if the quantity of reactants is sufcient to produce 0.86 g of Cl2O but only 0.71 g is obtained?
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Name
Date
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Items
Data
Substance
Cl2O
Mass available
NA*
Molar mass
NA
Amount of reactant
NA
NA
Actual yield
0.71 g
NA
0.86 g
Percent yield
2. PLAN
What steps are needed to
calculate the percent yield
of Cl2O?
4
Theoretical mass of Cl2O in g
% yield
actual yield
100
theoretical yield
6
Percent yield of Cl2O
5
Actual mass of Cl2O in g
actual mass
theoretical mass
g Cl2O produced
100 percent yield
theoretical g Cl2O
3. COMPUTE
0.71 g Cl2O
100 83% yield
0.86 g Cl2O
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PRACTICE
1. Calculate the percent yield in each of the following cases:
a. theoretical yield is 50.0 g of product;
actual yield is 41.9 g
ans: 83.8% yield
b. theoretical yield is 290 kg of product;
actual yield is 270 kg
ans: 93% yield
4
c. theoretical yield is 6.05 10 kg of product;
actual yield is 4.18 104 kg
ans: 69.1% yield
d. theoretical yield is 0.00192 g of product;
actual yield is 0.00089 g
ans: 46% yield
SAMPLE PROBLEM 2
Acetylene, C2H2 , can be used as an industrial starting material
for the production of many organic compounds. Sometimes, it
is rst brominated to form 1,1,2,2-tetrabromoethane,
CHBr2CHBr2 , which can then be reacted in many different
ways to make other substances. The equation for the bromination of acetylene follows:
acetylene
1,1,2,2-tetrabromoethane
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Name
Date
Class
Data
Substance
C2H2
CHBr2CHBr2
Mass available
72.0 g available
NA
Molar mass*
26.04 g/mol
345.64 g/mol
Amount of reactant
NA
Coefcient in balanced
equation
Actual yield
NA
729 g
NA
NA
Percent yield
NA
2. PLAN
What steps are needed to
calculate the theoretical
yield of tetrabromoethane?
What steps are needed to
calculate the percent yield
of tetrabromoethane.
1
Mass of C2H2 in g
2
Amount of C2H2 in mol
multiply by mole ratio:
CHBr2CHBr2
C2H2
3
Theoretical amount of
CHBr2CHBr2 in mol
multiply by the molar
mass of CHBr2CHBr2
4
Theoretical mass of
CHBr2CHBr2
Percent yield
CHBr2CHBr2
% yield
actual yield
100
theoretical yield
5
Actual mass of
CHBr2CHBr2
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mole ratio
1 mol C2H2
1 mol CHBr2CHBr2 345.64 g CHBr2CHBr2
g C2H2
26.04 g C2H2
1 mol C2H2
1 mol CHBr2CHBr2
theoretical g CHBr2CHBr2
given
actual grams
theoretical grams
g CHBr2CHBr2 produced
100 percent yield CHBr2CHBr2
theoretical g CHBr2CHBr2
3. COMPUTE
1 mol C2H2
1 mol CHBr2CHBr2
26.04 g C2H2
1 mol C2H2
345.64 g CHBr2CHBr2
956 g CHBr2CHBr2
1 mol CHBr2CHBr2
729 g CHBr2CHBr2
100 76.3% yield
956 g CHBr2CHBr2
72.0 g C2H2
4. EVALUATE
Are the units correct?
PRACTICE
1. In the commercial production of the element arsenic, arsenic(III)
oxide is heated with carbon, which reduces the oxide to the metal
according to the following equation:
2As2O3 3C : 3CO2 4As
a. If 8.87 g of As2O3 is used in the reaction
and 5.33 g of As is produced, what is the
percent yield?
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ethanol
H SO
ethyl acetate
2
4
CH3COOH CH3CH2OH 999:
CH3COOCH2CH3 H2O
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