STC_Percent Yield Lesson

Percent Yield Lesson

When we do stoichiometry problems to determine how much product can be made in a certain reaction, the answers we get are call theoretical yield (the amount of product that is calculated using stoichiometry). These are the amounts of product we could get "in theory", that is if the experiment worked perfectly with no loss of chemicals in the process. In reality, the amount of products produced when an experiment is actually performed is different from this theoretical amount. This is called the actual yield (the amount of product measured measured through a lab activity). If you compare the actual yield and theoretical yield to one another, you can calculate what is called percent yield (the ratio of the actual yield, expressed as a percentage).

This may sound complicated, but it is very simple if you think about it in this way. Let's say you take a quiz that is worth 25 points. 25 is your theoretical yield. This is the number of points you should get "in theory", if you have studied and have done everything correctly on your quiz. In reality, let's say that you missed a few questions and scored 21 points. This is your actual yield. The percent yield represents your grade. All you have to do is divide your actual grade by the grade you should have made "in theory", and then multiply by 100.

Watch this slide show to see how to do a percent yield problem:

Remember to work on the module practice problems as you complete each section of content.

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