what's a real life example which explains the difference between theoretical yield, actual yield, and percent yield

Question

 I don't really understand the concept, so I can't think of a real-life example that explains all of the yields. 

Answer 1

Hi Ashlynn,

 

Maybe this will help:

 

Pretend you are baking cupcakes!  The box says that you can make 12 cupcakes with the ingredients that they have given you, plus an egg and a cup of water.  You mix everything together, pour batter in your cupcake tin, and WHAT?!  You only ended up with 11 cupcakes!  How did that happen?

 

The 12 cupcakes you could THEORETICALLY make is your theoretical yield.  But that is only if you used every single speck of cake mix when filling your tins.  In reality, a little bit fell on the floor and your dog licked it up, a little was left in the mixing bowl and on the mixing spoon...and maybe you had a little taste yourself too.  ;)  Your ACTUAL yield is only 11 cupcakes out of the THEORETICAL 12 because you lost little bits along the way.

 

To find your percent yield, you would just divide: (11 cupcakes actually made/12 cupcakes that could theoretically be made) and then multiply by 100%.

 

I hope this helps!  Let me know if you have any more questions and feel free to message me if you'd like to set up an online tutoring session.  :)

 

Best wishes,

Magalie