Given the following equation, what would be the theoretical yield in grams of acetylsalicylic acid (C9H8O4) that can be produced from the reaction between 2.0 g of salicylic acid (C7H6O3) and 8.0 g of acetic anhydride (C4H6O3)

mass of C9H8O4  = 2.61 g

Explanation:

Firstly, we write the chemical equation of the reaction and we balance it.

C7H6O3  = salicylic acid

C4H6O3 =  acetic anhydride

C9H8O4) = acetylsalicylic acid

C7H6O3 + C4H6O3 → C9H8O4 + C2H4O2

We need to get the limiting reactant

molar mass of C7H6O3  = 138.1 g

moles  =  2 / 138.1  = 0.01448225923 moles

molar mass of C4H6O3  = 102.1 g

moles = 8 / 102.1  = 0.07835455435  moles

molar mass of C9H8O4 = 180.2 g

The limiting reactant is C7H6O3 and it will be used to determine the yield of C9H8O4 .

if 138.1 g of  C7H6O3  produces  180.2 g of C9H8O4

2 g of  C7H6O3 will produce ? grams of C9H8O4

cross multiply

mass of C9H8O4 = 180.2 × 2/ 138.1

mass of C9H8O4 = 360.4 /138.1

mass of C9H8O4 = 2.60970311369

mass of C9H8O4  = 2.61 g

answers: to make sure that all of the broken pieces of tablet were added to the water, to allow for fair comparison of all three trials, with different particle sizes to avoid experimental error