2 Limiting Reactants

[Abigail Sanders 1E]

Hello! Can someone please explain how there can be two or more limiting reactants in a chemical equation.

[Jessica Tran_3K]

Hi,

I don't think you can have more than one limiting reactant. Once the limiting reactant is used up, the reaction can no longer continue.

[jisulee1C]

It depends on the chemical reaction but remember to convert to moles and find the amount each reactant makes of a specific product. Compare the amounts made by the two reactants and the one that makes less of the same product is the limiting reactant. There can be more than one limiting reactant but that would both reactants that are limiting create the same amount of one product and are both used up in the reaction.

[Rebecca Epner 4A]

But is it possible if there are at least 3 reactants and 2 of them (the limiting ones) are equal?

[jisulee1C]

Yes if the two limiting reactants form the same amount of product and it is less than the third reactant than this is possible although highly unlikely.

[Robert Tran 1B]

In theory, there can be two limiting reactants if two reactants are present in the exact amounts necessary to use up both reactants. However, in practice, it's extremely unlikely that two reactants are present in the exact same amounts, so there is only one limiting reactant. For example, if two reactants are used at the same rate and it is measured that there are 2.50 grams of both reactants, it will almost always be the case that one reactant will still be present in a very slightly larger/smaller amount. This means that one of the reactants will be left over, but the instruments we use are not accurate enough to see it. Even if the difference is extremely small, we still consider the one that is present in the smaller amount the limiting reactant, so there will only be one limiting reactant.

[andrewcj 2C]

A little unrelated, but if there is a reaction that requires a catalyst, and the catalyst is present in very small quantities relative to the reactants, is it called a limiting reactant because it severely slows the reaction, or do we classify it as something else?

[Joowon Seo 3A]

A little unrelated, but if there is a reaction that requires a catalyst, and the catalyst is present in very small quantities relative to the reactants, is it called a limiting reactant because it severely slows the reaction, or do we classify it as something else?

The catalyst is not a limiting reactant because the reaction occurs independently with or without the presence of a catalyst.

[andrewcj 2C]

Suppose the activation energy is too high for the reaction to proceed without a catalyst. Does that make a difference?

[AKatukota]

I don't believe that there can be more than one limiting reactant. In a reaction, there is ONE limiting reaction and the others are in excess. Once the limiting reactant is used up, the reaction can no longer occur, because the amount of product being produced is limited.