Question

What is theoretical yield?
A.The maximum amount of product that can be made from the amount of reactants.
B.The measured amount of reactant in a reaction
C.The minimum amount of product that can be made from the amount of reactants.
D.The maximum amount of reactant that can be made from the product.
E.The measured amount of product from a reaction.

Answer 1

Theoretical yield is the maximum amount of product that could be obtained from the complete reaction of the limiting reagent and the actual yield is the product formed from the complete reaction of all the reactants which produce the actual product.

Complete step by step answer:
We know that theoretical yield is the product or the maximum amount of product obtained after the reaction of the limiting reagents or the maximum product from the reaction of the given reactants.
$Percent{\text{ }}yield = \dfrac{{Actual{\text{ }}yield}}{{Theoretical{\text{ }}yield}} \times 100\%$
Calculation of the percent yield is very important for determining the efficiency of a reaction and the product formed from the reaction of reactants thus, it is a necessity to calculate the percent yield, It also determines the manufacture of various products and it most importantly gives the percentage of the reactant which has been converted to a product after the reaction.
Thus, to calculate the percent yield we need to have the theoretical yield. Actual yield should not be greater than the theoretical yield because as we know that the theoretical yield is the maximum amount of product that could have been produced after a reaction between the reactants.
To improve the yield of a reaction it is very important to have the correct reactants being used for the desired product and the use of an appropriate is catalyst is also important but these are not the only factors affecting the yield, the instruments and the apparatus used while carrying out the reaction also plays a vital role in determining the yield of product after a reaction. Catalysts do not enter the theoretical yield calculations.
So, the correct answer to the question is option (A) which states that Theoretical yield is the maximum amount of product that can be made from the amount of reactants.

Note:
According to an example, the theoretical yield of ethylene from the reaction of ethanol for acid-catalyzed production of ethylene is 82% where the catalyst is not included in the calculations for theoretical yield. The amount of product predicted by stoichiometry is given as the theoretical yield.