what is the percent yield of the reaction?

Question

If 4.66 g of sodium carbonate is recovered from the decomposition of 1.49 g of sodium bicarbonate, what is the percent yield of the reaction? (Note: I messed up on this problem and the percent yield will be unrealistically large. You can still solve it but will get a number much larger than I intended.)

2 NaHCO₃(s) → Na₂CO₃(s) + CO₂(g) + H₂O(l)

Answer 1

2 NaHCO₃(s) ==> Na₂CO₃(s) + CO₂(g) + H₂O(l) ... balanced equation

To find the % yield, we need to first find the THEORETICAL yield. This is done from the stoichiometry of the balanced equation and using dimensional analysis.

Theoretical yield of Na2CO3(s):

1.49 g NaHCO3 x 1 mol NaHCO3 / 84.0 g x 1 mol Na2CO3 / 2 mol NaHCO3 x 106 g/mol = 0.940 g

So, just as you stated, the yield of 4.66 g IS NOT POSSIBLE, and so the calculated % yield will be greater than 100%, which again, is not possible. But if you did calculate it, just as an exercise, it would be

4.66 g / 0.940 g (x100) = 496%