what is the theoretical yield?
The theoretical yield is how you can apply and use limiting reagents to find the maximum amount of compound you can produce. This requires that you ignore the excess because you can have left over substance, but you can't create them out of thin air to try to match the excess. Therefore, you use the limiting reagent.
For example, if you have 15 kids and have 14 packages of poptarts, how many kids will be able to be fed? Since you have less packages of poptarts than you do kids, not every child will be able to eat. This is because in this case, the excess is the number of kids and the limiting reagent is the number of poptarts. Since you only have 14 packages of poptarts that is the maximum number of kids that you can feed making 14 the theoretical yield.
Now more kids have arrived so there are 25 kids, but still only 14 packages of poptarts. The mother, however, realizes that there are 2 poptarts in each package, now how many kids will be fed? Since there are 25 kids and 28 poptarts (14x2), there are less kids than poptarts. This means that the kids are the limiting factor meaning that they all get to eat! The theoretical yield is 25 because there are only 25 kids who need to be fed and you ignore the excess of 3 poptarts.
For example, if you have 15 kids and have 14 packages of poptarts, how many kids will be able to be fed? Since you have less packages of poptarts than you do kids, not every child will be able to eat. This is because in this case, the excess is the number of kids and the limiting reagent is the number of poptarts. Since you only have 14 packages of poptarts that is the maximum number of kids that you can feed making 14 the theoretical yield.
Now more kids have arrived so there are 25 kids, but still only 14 packages of poptarts. The mother, however, realizes that there are 2 poptarts in each package, now how many kids will be fed? Since there are 25 kids and 28 poptarts (14x2), there are less kids than poptarts. This means that the kids are the limiting factor meaning that they all get to eat! The theoretical yield is 25 because there are only 25 kids who need to be fed and you ignore the excess of 3 poptarts.