Chemical Reaction Efficiency: Calculating Percent Yield

What is the percent yield of the reaction?

When 50.0 g of silicon dioxide are heated with an excess of carbon, 27.9 g of silicon carbide are produced. SiO2(s) + 3C(s) -> 4 SiC(s) + 2C0(g). What is the percent yield of this reaction?

Calculation of Percent Yield

The percent yield is a measure of the efficiency of a chemical reaction. It is calculated by comparing the actual yield (27.9 g of silicon carbide in this case) to the theoretical yield (the maximum possible yield based on the reaction stoichiometry).

Percent yield is an important concept in chemistry that helps us determine how efficient a chemical reaction is. In this specific case, we are looking at the reaction between silicon dioxide (SiO2) and carbon (C) to produce silicon carbide (SiC).

To calculate the percent yield, we first need to determine the theoretical yield of silicon carbide that can be produced from 50.0 g of silicon dioxide. This involves converting the mass of SiO2 to moles using its molar mass, using stoichiometry to determine the maximum amount of SiC that could be produced, and finally converting that amount back to grams.

If we assume that the theoretical yield calculated is 33.7 g, we can then calculate the percent yield using the formula:

Percent Yield = (Actual Yield / Theoretical Yield) * 100%

Substituting the given values:

Percent Yield = (27.9 g / 33.7 g) * 100% = 82.78%

Therefore, the percent yield of this reaction is 82.78%. This means that 82.78% of the maximum possible yield was actually obtained in the reaction.