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ChemistryGeneral Chemistry

How to Find Actual Yield from Percent Yield and Theoretical Yield

Rearranging the percent-yield formula gives actual yield = 0.8840 × 19.98 g = 17.66232 g, which rounds to 17.66 g at four significant figures.

Question

A chemical reaction has a theoretical yield of 19.98 g19.98\,\mathrm g and a percent yield of 88.40%88.40\%. What is the actual yield?

Answer

The actual yield is 17.66 g17.66\,\mathrm g.

Start with the percent-yield relationship:

percent yield=actual yieldtheoretical yield×100%.\text{percent yield} =\frac{\text{actual yield}}{\text{theoretical yield}}\times100\%.

Rearrange it to solve for actual yield:

actual yield=percent yield100%×theoretical yield.\text{actual yield} =\frac{\text{percent yield}}{100\%}\times\text{theoretical yield}.

Substitute the values:

actual yield=0.8840(19.98 g)=17.66232 g.\text{actual yield} =0.8840(19.98\,\mathrm g) =17.66232\,\mathrm g.

Rounded to four significant figures, the actual yield is 17.66 g17.66\,\mathrm g.

Evidence boundary

The calculation treats 88.40% as the decimal factor 0.8840 and requires actual and theoretical yield to use the same unit. This is an actual yield inferred from the reported efficiency, not a new laboratory measurement. The prompt does not provide enough information to identify why the yield is below 100%.

Sources

These references support the concepts and methods used in the explanation above.

How to Find Actual Yield from Percent and Theoretical Yield | Verla