If your body takes in 20 moles of #O_2# from the air, and you eat 45 moles of sugar, which is the limiting reactant?

Answer 1

#C_6H_12O_6 + 6O_2 rarr 6CO_2 + 6H_2O + "heat"#

Clearly, oxygen is the limiting reagent.

I have simplified glucose metabolism with a simple combustion reaction. The balanced combustion equation clearly indicates that each mole of sugar, #C_6H_12O_6#, requires #6# mol of dioxygen gas for combustion.

This scenario is obviously a little unrealistic—after all, who would consume more than eight kilograms of sugar in one sitting?

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Answer 2

Jose Ayala

The limiting reactant is oxygen (O2) because it is taken in 20 moles, while sugar is consumed in excess at 45 moles.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.