Iron metal reacts with chlorine gas giving ironII chloride T

Iron metal reacts with chlorine gas giving iron(II) chloride. The balanced chemical equation for this reaction is: 2 Fe(s) 3 Cl2(g) 2 FeCl3(s) If 26.0 g each of iron and chlorine are combined, what is the theoretical yield of iron(I) chloride? 75.3

Solution

Number of moles of Fe = 26.0 g / 55.845 g/mol = 0.466 mole

number of moles of Cl2 = 26.0 g / 70.9060 g/mol = 0.367 mole

from the balanced equation we can say that

2 mole of Fe requires 3 mole of Cl2 so

0.466 mole of Fe will require

= 0.466 mole of Fe *(3 mole of Cl2 / 2 mole of Fe)

= 0.699 mole of Cl2

but we have only 0.367 mole of Cl2 which is in short so Cl2 is the limiting reactant

from the balanced equation we can say that

3 mole of Cl2 produces 2 mole of FeCl3 so

0.367 mole of Cl2 will produce

= 0.367 mole of Cl2 *(2 mole of FeCl3 / 3 mole of Cl2)

= 0.245 mole of FeCl3

mass of 1 mole of FeCl3 = 162.2 g

so the mass of 0.245 mole of FeCl3 = 39.7 g

Therefore, theoretical yield of FeCl3 = 39.7 g