Question This has to do with a lab I did where a reaction with HCl and Zinc took

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This has to do with a lab I did where a reaction with HCl and Zinc took place as well as Copper wire and Sulfur. (poured HCl onto Zinc until all the Zinc metal was gone and then burned off the liquid, covered the copper wire with sulfur in a crucible and burned that too)

Why is it advantageous to use one reagent in excess when you do a reaction? Ideally what kind of property must the reagent used in excess have in comparison to the properties of the product in order to be used in excess? In which way do HCl and Sulfur, respectively, fulfill these conditions?

Explanation / Answer

Why is it advantageous to use one reagent in excess when you do a reaction?

Solution :- The stoichiometry of the reaction is depends on the mole ratio of the reactants therefore to complete the reaction with desired reaction we need to use the another reactant in little excess because when one reactant is in excess then limiting reactant reacts completely and converts all the limiting reactant into the product. Therefore it is advantageous to use the one reactant in little excess.

Ideally what kind of property must the reagent used in excess have in comparison to the properties of the product in order to be used in excess?

Solution :- The excess reactant should be easily removable from the product mixture.

It should not affect the yield of the product when it remain in excess.

In which way do HCl and Sulfur, respectively, fulfill these conditions?

Solution :-

HCl is easy to remove from the mixture because it remains soluble in the aqueous solution so can be easily filtered and removed or we can neutralize the excess HCl by adding necessary amount of the base to the mixture

When S is burned then it forms the gases oxides like SO2 ansd SO3 which are escape from the product mixture

Therefore HCl and S are easy to remove from the product mixture.

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