Chemistry Problem: Percent Yield Calculation

What is the percent yield of this reaction?

When 50.0 g silicon dioxide is heated with excess carbon, 32.2 g of silicon carbide is recovered. What is the percent yield of this reaction?

A) 32.2%

B) 50.0%

C) 64.4%

D) 100%

Answer:

The percent yield of silicon carbide in the given reaction, if we assume the theoretical yield is 50.0 g (as equivalent to the mass of silicon dioxide), would be 64.4%. Therefore, the correct answer is C) 64.4%.

When calculating the percent yield of a chemical reaction, it is essential to compare the actual yield obtained from the experiment to the theoretical yield that is expected from stoichiometric calculations. In this case, we are given that 32.2 g of silicon carbide is recovered from the reaction.

Since the theoretical yield is not provided in the question, we make the assumption that the theoretical yield is equivalent to the mass of silicon dioxide used, which is 50.0 g. By using this assumption, we can calculate the percent yield.

The formula for percent yield is: Percent yield = (actual yield / theoretical yield) * 100%

Plugging in the values: Percent yield = (32.2 g / 50.0 g) * 100% = 64.4%

Therefore, the percent yield of silicon carbide in this reaction is 64.4%, which means 64.4% of the theoretical yield was obtained in the experiment.