Theoretical and Percentage Yield

[Tiffany Cao 1D]

What is the difference between theoretical and percentage yield, if there is a difference? Also, what causes the theoretical yield to be less than the actual yield?

[Chem_Mod]

The difference is a difference between theoretical and actual (or experimental). Percentage Yield is calculated by the following:

So in an ideal world, theoretical yield would be the result that you end up with; however, there are several factors that could decrease your yield such as not transferring all of your material, not achieving perfect separation or the mechanism of the reaction being faulty. These will serve to decrease your actual yield, and will be reflected in your percentage yield.

[Marcela Luna IJ]

The difference is a difference between theoretical and actual (or experimental). Percentage Yield is calculated by the following:

So in an ideal world, theoretical yield would be the result that you end up with; however, there are several factors that could decrease your yield such as not transferring all of your material, not achieving perfect separation or the mechanism of the reaction being faulty. These will serve to decrease your actual yield, and will be reflected in your percentage yield.

This is actually one of the best explanations that I have read and has actually made sense! Thank you!

[Rita Dang 3D]

Side reactions and impurities can also cause differences between actual and theoretical yield.

[Jingyi Li 2C]

Theoretical yield is the maximum amount of a product you can get from a reaction. It is calculated from the mole ratio of a balanced equation. Percentage yield, on the other hand, is obtained from the following formula: (actual yield/theoretical yield)*100%. Some factors that may causes the differences between actual and theoretical yield are side reactions, incomplete reactions, and impurities.