O₂ is the limiting reagent.
What is a limiting reactant?
A limiting reactant is described as the one that will be consumed first in a chemical reaction.
Calculation
C₁₀H₈ + 12O₂ → 10CO₂ + 4H₂O
Given, Mass of O₂ = 23.3 g
Mass of C₁₀H₈ = 18.3 g
Molar mass of O₂ = 32 g
No. of moles of O₂ = 32/23.3 = 1.4 moles
Molar mass of C₁₀H₈ = 128 g
No. of moles of C₁₀H₈ = 128/18.3 = 6.9 = 7 moles
According to the equation,
1 mole of C₁₀H₈ yields 10 moles of CO₂. So, 7 moles of C₁₀H₈, give 70 moles of CO₂.
12 moles of O₂ yields 10 moles of CO₂. So, 1.4 moles of O₂ give 1.16 moles of CO₂.
We do know, however, that based on our balanced equation, if we were to totally react all 1.4 moles of O2, we could only produce a maximum of 1.16 moles of CO2. Even while there is enough C10H8 to generate more, the amount of O2 we have is a limiting factor because it will be consumed first.
So, our limiting reactant is O₂.
Learn more about limiting reagents here:
https://brainly.com/question/11848702
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