Question

$20mL$ of acetic acid reacts with $20mL$ of ethyl alcohol to form ethyl acetate. The density of acid and alcohol are $1g/mL$ and $0.7g/mL$ respectively. The limiting reagent in this reaction is

• A. acetic acid
• B. ethyl alcohol
• C. acetic acid and ethyl alcohol
• D. ester.

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Mass of 20 ml of acetic acid = $20\times 1=20g$
Mass of 20 ml of ethyl alcohol = $20\times 0.7$
$=14g$
$\underset{\text{46 g}}{C_2{H}_{5}OH}+\underset{\text{60 g}}{C{H}_{3}COOH}toC{H}_{3}COO{C}_2{H}_5+H_{2}O$
60 g of acetic acid = 46 g of ethyl alcohol
20 g of acetic acid = 15.3 of ethyl alcohol
Therefore, ethyl alcohol is the limiting reagent.