Answer:
NaOH is the limiting reactant.
Explanation:
Hello there!
In this case, since the reaction taking place between sodium hydroxide and chlorine has is:
[tex]NaOH+Cl_2\rightarrow NaCl+NaClO+H_2O[/tex]
Which must be balanced according to the law of conservation of mass:
[tex]2NaOH+Cl_2\rightarrow NaCl+NaClO+H_2O[/tex]
Whereas there is a 2:1 mole ratio of NaOH to Cl2, which means that the moles of the former that are consumed by 0.85 moles of the latter are:
[tex]n_{NaOH}=0.85molCl_2*\frac{2molNaOH}{1molCl_2}\\\\n_{ NaOH}=1.7molNaOH[/tex]
Therefore, since we just have 1.23 moles out of 1.70 moles of NaOH, we infer this is the limiting reactant.
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