Actual Yield [ENDORSED]

[Kate Manganaro 1F]

In order to calculate the theoretical yield, we would find the limiting reactant and base it off of that, but is there any way to calculate the actual yield of a chemical reaction or will it always be given to us?

[nelquosey]

Because actual yield depends on side reactions, human error, and other experimental mishaps, it is hard with our level of understanding of chemistry to measure actual yield. As of now we have been calculating chemical problems within a very theoretical and almost perfect sphere, where reactions are efficient. We have not yet gone over how to account for the errors of the real world.

[Bryan Jiang 1F]

I believe that the actual yield must always be given since multiple factors (side reactions, impurities, sticking to side of beaker, etc.) can affect how much product the reaction will actually yield. Even if there were a way to calculate actual yield from taking into account every possible variable that could influence the actual yield of a reaction, calculating the actual yield would distract from the purpose of the original problem: in this context, practice with limiting reactants.

However, I recall from lecture that someone asked Dr. Lavelle what side reactions were, and we learned that multiple chained reactions will expectedly lead to diminishing percent yields. From this context, maybe, actual yield could be calculated, but even then we would probably still be given some values that tell us how much is lost going down a chain of reactions.

[Jennifer Ma 1G]

The actual yield is a part of many human errors and natural occurrences, so there is no accurate way to measure the actual yield. Most of the time, we should only be asked to calculate for the theoretical yield.