Calculating Percent Yield of Silicon Carbide

How to determine the percent yield of silicon carbide?

What is the balanced reaction involved in the production of silicon carbide from silicon dioxide and carbon?

How can we calculate the theoretical yield of silicon carbide?

What is the formula to calculate the percent yield of silicon carbide?

Calculation of Percent Yield of Silicon Carbide

To determine the percent yield of silicon carbide, we need to follow a series of steps involving balancing the reaction equation, calculating the theoretical yield, and finally, computing the percent yield.

When silicon dioxide reacts with carbon, it forms silicon carbide and carbon monoxide. The balanced reaction is as follows:

SiO2 + 3C → SiC + 2CO

To calculate the theoretical yield of silicon carbide, we first need to determine the amount of silicon carbide that would be produced if all the carbon reacted. Since carbon is the limiting reactant, the amount of silicon carbide depends on the amount of carbon available for the reaction. From the balanced equation, we can see that for every 3 moles of carbon reacted, 1 mole of silicon carbide is produced.

Given the molar masses of carbon and silicon carbide:

Molar mass of carbon (C) = 12.01 g/mol

Molar mass of silicon carbide (SiC) = 28.09 g + 12.01 g = 40.1 g/mol

Using these molar masses, we can calculate the theoretical yield of silicon carbide:

Theoretical yield = 79.1 g x (1 mol/12.01 g) x (1 mol/3 mol) x (40.1 g/1 mol) = 88.04 g SiC

Now, to find the percent yield of silicon carbide, we use the formula:

Percent yield = (actual yield of SiC / theoretical yield of SiC) x 100%

= (67.4 g / 88.04 g) x 100%

= 0.766 x 100%

Percent yield of SiC = 76.6%

Therefore, the percent yield of silicon carbide in this reaction is 76.6%.