
The current iteration of the Periodic Table of the Elements, as approved by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), shows 118 elements, every one of them a pure substance. From the lightest element, hydrogen, to the heaviest element, oganesson. Pure elementsĪny substance composed entirely of one type of atom is considered an element and a pure substance. The pure substance formed, N a C l, is formed through electrostatic interactions, not the much stronger chemical bonds of covalently bonded atoms that form molecules. This chemical reaction created the pure substance we know as table salt. Instead, they are still pure substances and are often referred to just as units of the compound.Īn example of a chemical compound that is a pure substance but not a molecule is sodium chloride, table salt, which is formed when a sodium atom gives up an electron to a chlorine atom, creating a positive sodium ion and a negative chlorine ion called chloride. Pure compoundsĪtoms of different elements can bond together using ionic bonds, but these are not considered molecules. Millions of molecules, all pure substances, exist.īaking soda (sodium bicarbonate, N a H C O 3) is a molecule, while lithium hydroxide ( L i O H) is only a compound, not a molecule hundreds of thousands of such compounds, all pure substances, exist. For example, the molecule for sugar or sucrose, C 12 H 22 O 11 is a pure substance similar in sweetness to another pure substance, the molecule fructose, C 6 H 12 O 6.

Pure substances that form compounds and molecules include, well, everything around you that is not a mixture. Pure substance examplesĪs said earlier, every one of the 118 elements on the Periodic Table is a pure substance, so you can start your search for examples with hydrogen, atomic number 1, and continue through to oganesson at 118.
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In addition, mixtures are made up of more than one type of atom, compound, or molecule, making them impure.Įxamples of mixtures are a bowl of different fruits, a jar full of coins, and sand at the beach. For example, one sample of a heterogeneous mixture can have different physical and chemical properties than a second sample from the same mixture. Heterogeneous mixtures do not have the same characteristics as pure substances. There are two types of mixtures homogeneous mixtures and heterogeneous mixtures. Mixtures are formed by combining different substances. Heterogeneous mixtures are not pure substances because they have variable compositions. Coordination number (the number of atoms bonded to a given atom)Īll matter is either a pure substance (atoms or compounds) or mixtures.Chemical properties, meaning behavior of the pure substance during chemical changes, include: This is a partial list of physical properties that can be observed, measured, and predicted for pure substances under normal conditions (room temperature and one earth atmosphere of pressure):Īll pure substances will also show the same chemical properties regardless of where they are found.

Sodium chloride from the Dead Sea is physically the same as sodium chloride mined in Kansas. Pure substances have a constant composition. No matter where a given pure substance is found, it will have identical physical properties to every other pure substance of the same chemical makeup. These predictable properties make pure substances the foundation of chemistry because known interactions can be used to form new materials and new types of matter.

Whether element, molecule, or compound, pure substances share similar physical and chemical properties. Compounds are molecules (covalently bonded) or units of ionic compounds.

Currently, the Periodic Table of the Elements recognizes 118 such pure substances. Elements are substances made up of only one kind of atom. In chemistry, pure substances are only two things: elements or compounds.
