1. In chemistry, a limiting reagent is the chemical that determines how far the chemical reaction will go before the chemical in question get's used up. When this chemical in question gets used up, the reaction will stop because there is no reactant left.
OR... If you understand the following definition more, use that one (whichever you feel most comfortable with is the one you should use!):
2. In chemistry, the limiting reagent is the reactant in a chemical reaction that limits the amount of product that can be formed. Once all of the reactant is used up, the reaction will stop.
In essence, the reactant (or chemical) controls the quantity of product being produced.
To understand this more, let's apply it to real life!
Think of this as an example:
To make a hamburger you need one patty and two buns (top and bottom). Suppose you were in a grocery store purchasing these meat patties and hamburger buns. You find that the patties are sold in packs of 10 and the buns are sold in packs of 12 (including top and bottom buns). This means that you can only make 10 hamburgers because you only have 10 patties for 12 buns.
Now, let's take this back to chemistry... since there are only 10 patties which are less than the amount of buns, the amount of patties are the limiting reagent. It is the limiting reagent because it is the first to be used up and it controls the quantity of product being produced.
Let's move on... Click here!
OR... If you understand the following definition more, use that one (whichever you feel most comfortable with is the one you should use!):
2. In chemistry, the limiting reagent is the reactant in a chemical reaction that limits the amount of product that can be formed. Once all of the reactant is used up, the reaction will stop.
In essence, the reactant (or chemical) controls the quantity of product being produced.
To understand this more, let's apply it to real life!
Think of this as an example:
To make a hamburger you need one patty and two buns (top and bottom). Suppose you were in a grocery store purchasing these meat patties and hamburger buns. You find that the patties are sold in packs of 10 and the buns are sold in packs of 12 (including top and bottom buns). This means that you can only make 10 hamburgers because you only have 10 patties for 12 buns.
Now, let's take this back to chemistry... since there are only 10 patties which are less than the amount of buns, the amount of patties are the limiting reagent. It is the limiting reagent because it is the first to be used up and it controls the quantity of product being produced.
Let's move on... Click here!
