When 6.25 g of AgNO3 reacts with 4.12 g of NaCl to form NaNO3 and AgCl, what is the limiting reactant?

1 Answer
anor277
Nov 2, 2015

Molecular mass of #AgNO_3#, #169.83# #g*mol^-1#; #NaCl#, #58.44# #g*mol^-1#. Thus there are about twice the quantity of #NaCl# species.

Explanation:

The reaction (which perhaps I should have written first!) is:

#Ag^+(aq) + Cl^(-)(aq) rarr AgCl(s)darr#

The nitrate and sodium ions are simply along for the ride and remain in solution. Note that the silver chloride precipitate would be exceptionally curdy and hard to handle. #AgCl# would also tend to decompose and darken to #Ag_2O# and silver metal.

So what are the molar quantities of silver nitrate and sodium chloride in this rxn? For precious metals, why is it a good idea that the precipitating reagent be present in excess?

Related questions
See all questions in Limiting Reagent
Impact of this question
5727 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License