In irreversible chemical reactions, what happens to the reactants?

In irreversible chemical reactions, the reactants undergo a transformation that results in the formation of products, and this process typically goes to completion. This means that all the reactants are completely consumed in the reaction, leaving no trace of the original reactants in the final mixture. This is a key distinction between irreversible reactions and reversible reactions, where reactants can reform. In irreversible reactions, the movement towards products is favored to such an extent that once the products are formed, they do not revert back to the original reactants under normal conditions. Thus, the answer indicating that the reactants are completely used up accurately describes what occurs in an irreversible reaction.