What counts as theoretical yield?

[Bethany Yang 2E]

When finding the percent yield, is theoretical yield only the amount of the limiting reactant? For some reason I thought you would add the product's grams that came from both the reactants and that was the theoretical yield...

[Chem_Mod]

The theoretical yield is based on our calculations of the amount you can produce using the limiting reactant.

[Alara Aygen 3K]

The theoretical yield is the maximum amount of product you can get based on your calculations. However, this amount is usually not achieved in the actual experiment because of technicalities. Thus, the theoretical yield is usually higher than the actual yield.

[Megan Sparrow 1A]

To help clarify the second part, the theoretical yield is the maximum amount of product calculated that could be produced if the reaction is precise given the limiting reagent. The reason you couldn't always add the product grams from both reactants is that you could be factoring in an excess reactant which would skew results.

[Emmeline Phu 1G]

Hi! The percentage yield is equal to actual yield/theoretical yield x 100%. In order to find the theoretical yield of a specific product, find the limiting reactant in the chemical equation and multiply by the reactant to product ratio to find the mol of product that would be produced from the given amount of limiting reactant. From there, multiply the mol of product by the product's molar mass to find the grams. After that step, you would have the theoretical yield. Hope this helps! :)

[Annika Tamaki 1E]

Theoretical yield is the amount of the products based on the limiting reactants and the molar ratios. If you calculate how many moles of the products will be produced by the limiting reactant, you can convert that to grams to find the theoretical yield. The actual yield will be given and is based on the amount of product produced with experimental errors.

[Juwan_Madaki_3K]

Theoretical yield also differs from actual yield because it's the maximum amount of product one can get from a molecule/atom/formula unit in grams based on the limiting reactant. It is always greater than actual yield due to side reactions, reactants not being pure, and product sticking to the beaker. It's important to note this so that you can ensure that theoretical yield is always in the denominator when finding percent yield.

[Cecilia Cisneros 1F]

The theoretical yield would be the amount of product you find when converting from your limiting reactant based on a certain chemical reaction. It is the "perfect" reaction and amount of product that would come about from reacting your two reactants and there are no side reactions present. This is why the theoretical yield is always greater than the actual yield given in the question because no reaction tends to occur perfectly in an actual experiment.

[Crystal Hsueh 2L]

The theoretical yield is the maximum amount of product you can possibly achieve based off of the limiting reactant. When actually doing an experiment it is very very unlikely to get the theoretical yield because of common errors that take place during the experiment such as unpure reactants or reactants sticking to the side of the test tube. The actual yield will usually be lower than the theoretical yield which is why percent error is usually less than 100%