In a chemical reaction, the limiting reagent, also known as the "limiting reactant", is the substance which is totally consumed when the chemical reaction is complete. The amount of product formed is limited by this reagent since the reaction cannot proceed further without it. The other reagents may be present in excess of the quantities required to react with the limiting reagent.
The limiting reagent must be identified in order to calculate the percentage yield of a reaction, since the theoretical yield is defined as the amount of product obtained when the limiting reagent reacts completely.
Given the balanced chemical equation which describes the reaction, there are several equivalent ways to identify the limiting reagent and evaluate the excess quantities of other reagents.
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