Oxygen is the limiting reagent in the following synthesis reaction.
Explanation:
At first, we have to balance the chemical reaction,
[tex]2H_{2}+O_{2}[/tex] [tex]2H_{2}O[/tex]
i.e.,oxygen molecule requires 2 moles of hydrogen molecule in order to synthesise 2 moles of water molecule.
no. of moles of [tex]O_{2}[/tex] = [tex]\frac{15.4*1}{32}[/tex]
=0.48125 moles
no. of moles of [tex]H_{2}[/tex] = [tex]\frac{16.7*1}{2.0159}[/tex]
= 8.2841 moles.
Now, for 1 mole of oxygen,2 mole of hydrogen is used, so;
no. of moles of [tex]H_{2}[/tex] = 8.2841/2 = 4.142 moles.
But, we don't have that many moles of [tex]O_{2}[/tex] and that's why, oxygen is considered as limiting reagent.
