Question

Some chemistry help please!

Answer 1

What is the limiting reactant when 6.8 moles of iron react with 8.9 moles of oxygen gas?
Unbalanced equation: Fe + O2 → Fe2O3
Show, or explain, all of your work along with the final answer.

Answer 2

First you need to balance your equation

Answer 3

How do I do that?

Answer 4

Would it be Fe + 8.9 O2 --> 6.8 Fe2O3

Answer 5

Hold on let me show you

Answer 6

Fe + O2 → Fe2O3

on the reactant side we have 1 mole of Fe and 1 mole of oxygen. notice that oxygen is di atomic, di means two atoms, so we have two atoms of oxygen and one atom of Fe iron.

on the product side we have 2 moles of Iron and 3 moles of oxygen.

clearly this isn't balanced because the number of atoms on the product and reactant side aren't the same.

we balance this by placing numbers in front of each element. notice below that we have 2 moles of Fe react with three moles of oxygen to produce 1 mole of Fe2O3

2Fe + 3O2 --> Fe2O3

Take a look at this below: the purpose of doing this is to make sure that we have the same number of atoms on both the reactant and product side.

2Fe, 6 Oxygen atoms

2 Fe, 6 oxygen atoms