theoretical yield [ENDORSED]

[Sami Ryan 1G]

Is it possible to get an actual yield and a theoretical yield very close to one another? What kinds of alterations to experiments can decrease the divide between them?

[Shania Garrison Discussion 3E]

I would say yes it is possible to get ones theoretical and actual yields that are very close to eachother. I think you would have to be very careful and precise with your experiment. I remember Dr. Lavelle talking about this being important for Professional Chemists who need to get a substance that take many rounds of different reactions to produce. I think the goal is to attempt to limit the amount of side reactions and impurities.

[Jonathan Alterman 1C]

Yes, it is possible for actual and theoretical yields to be very close to each other; that would signify an extremely high percent yield. The reason that actual yield is always lower than theoretical yield is because in the laboratory, there can be side reactions or impurities that affect the mass of the product produced. These are not considered in the theoretical yield, therefore the theoretical yield mass is higher than the actual yield mass. Ensuring the reaction goes to completion in the laboratory and limiting these side reactions in the experiment is essential to increasing percent yield.

[Sean Sanders 1E]

I believe its possible to get an actual yield that is very close to the theoretical yield but this is very dependent on the type of reaction that you are observing, how precise and accurate your measurements are, and how diligent you are at making sure to collect all of the products of the reaction.

[805601733]

I would say that it is possible to get very close theoretical and actual yields. However, the likelihood of this event occurring is low as lab experiments cannot be fully controlled and conditions are not always perfect.

[Joseph Liao 3C]

My TA mentioned this in discussion last week. It would definitely be possible to get theoretical and actual yield very close together, leading to a percent yield close to 1, but you would have to run an almost perfect experiment with no room for error. It would probably be impossible to have an actual yield that equals the theoretical yield, as there are simply too many factors in play that could affect the experiment.

[Tyler Olson 1E]

It is possible, but very tricky to pull off in an experiment. It would need to be performed perfectly with no errors of any sort and that just doesn't happen very much because of the precision required. There are many factors that cause the actual yield to be less than the theoretical so keeping all of them in mind would be very difficult.

[Meia Schram 1J]

Hi, I do think it is very possible to get your actual yield very close to your theoretical however this would be very hard to do. Some of the things you would have to limit to get these two numbers closer would be your outside forces (ie temperature, air, and things you wouldn't even think of) So since it is hard for a normal class lab to control we usually assume these numbers will always differ.

[Monse Mata 3D]

My PLF mentioned that although it is possible for the theoretical yield to be close to the actual yield, it does not happen often. I think that one would have to be extra cautious with the experiment and eradicate any kind of error within the experiment such as contamination, etc.

[Jahnavi Srinivas 2H]

Though it is possible to obtain close theoretical and actual yields, it is very unlikely. This is due to human errors or contamination that often occurs in experiments, making the actual yield much less than the predicted outcome.