Excess Reactant
Definition
The excess reactant is the substance that is not used up completely in a reaction. It remains after all other reactants are used up.
Analogy
Going back to our cookie analogy, if you had 5 cups of flour but still just one egg, you'd still only be able to make half a batch because you're limited by your eggs. Your flour would be an excess reactant because there's some left over even after all your eggs (limiting reactant) have been used up.
Related terms
Products: These are new substances created as a result of a chemical reaction from reacting molecules or atoms (reactants).
Yield: This refers to either the amount of product predicted by stoichiometry calculations (theoretical yield) or actually produced when performing a chemical reaction (actual yield).
Reagent: A reagent is any type of compound or mixture added to cause or speed up a chemical process/reaction.
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