When sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid are combined in a beaker and allowed to run to completion, a small amount of sodium bicarbonate remains unreacted at the bottom of the beaker at the end of the experiment. This means that the sodium bicarbonate is the __ in this experiment. limiting reactant product catalyst excess reactant

## Step1: Identify the role of sodium bicarbonate<br />### Since a small amount of sodium bicarbonate remains unreacted at the end of the experiment, it indicates that there was more sodium bicarbonate than needed to react with all the acetic acid. Therefore, sodium bicarbonate is not completely consumed.<br />## Step2: Determine the correct term for the remaining reactant<br />### The reactant that remains after the reaction has completed is known as the excess reactant.