Percent yield is a crucial concept in chemistry that measures the efficiency of a chemical reaction by comparing the actual amount of product obtained to the theoretical maximum amount.
The formula for calculating percent yield is:
Where:
Let's calculate the percent yield for a reaction that produces 3.65 g of product when the theoretical yield is 4.22 g:
Step 1: Identify the values
Step 2: Apply the formula
Percent Yield = (3.65 g / 4.22 g) × 100%
Step 3: Calculate the result
Percent Yield = 0.8649 × 100% = 86.49%
The percent yield of the reaction is 86.49%.
This diagram illustrates the concept of percent yield:
The green area represents the actual yield (86.49% of theoretical), while the red area shows the unreacted or lost portion.