Question

A neutralization reaction was performed using NaOH (volume = 49.0 mL, concentration = 0.600 M ) and nitric acid (volume = 49.0 mL, concentration = 0.750 M ).

Calculate the moles of the limiting reactant.

NaOH + HNO 3 → NaNO 3 + H 2 O

Give your answer to three significant figures.

Answer 1

From a balanced chemical reaction, 1 mole of NaOH reacts with 1 mole of HNO_3.

The number of moles of NaOH reacted is:

(40x0.6)/1000

= 0.0294 moles.

The number of moles of HNO₃ reacted is:

(49x0.75)/1000

= 0.03675 moles.

Therefore, since the mole ratio is 1:1, the reactants require the same number of moles for complete neutralization. For this reason, NaOH is the limiting reagent whose number of moles is 0.0294 moles.