Science Common Sense

1741 - What is the yield of chemical reactions and processes?

The yield of a chemical reaction or process is the amount of a desired product that is actually made compared to the amount of product that theoretically could have been made.

Think of it like baking cookies. If a recipe says you should get 12 cookies, but you only get 8, then your yield is 8/12 = 2/3. This means you didn't get as many cookies as you could have, maybe some were eaten or didn't turn out right.

In chemistry, we want to get as close to 100% yield as possible, so we can make the most of our ingredients and reactions.