Diethyl ether can be made from ethanol. The reaction is as follows: 2C₂H₅OH(l) → (C₂H₅) ₂O(l) + H₂O(l)
In one experiment, 46.0 g of ethanol yielded 34.7 g of diethyl ether. What was the percent yield in this experiment?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The first step is to find the theoretical yield of diethyl ether. To do this, we need to calculate the moles of ethanol and use the mole ratio between ethanol and diethyl ether to find the moles of diethyl ether that should have been produced:

Moles of ethanol = 46.0 g / 46.07 g/mol = 1.00 mol
Moles of diethyl ether = (1.00 mol ethanol) / (1 mol diethyl ether/2 mol ethanol) = 0.500 mol

The molar mass of diethyl ether is:
2(12.01 g/mol) + 2(1.01 g/mol) + 1(15.99 g/mol) = 74.12 g/mol

So the theoretical yield of diethyl ether is:
0.500 mol x 74.12 g/mol = 37.06 g

Now we can calculate the percent yield using the actual yield (34.7 g) and theoretical yield (37.06 g):

Percent yield = (actual yield / theoretical yield) x 100%
Percent yield = (34.7 g / 37.06 g) x 100% = 93.8%

Therefore, the best choice is C, with a percent yield of 93.8%.

Diethyl Ether Can Be Made from Ethanol