Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures

A pure substance can be either an element or a compound. Elements are those pure
substances that cannot be decomposed by ordinary chemical means such as heating,
electrolysis, or reaction. Gold, silver, and oxygen are examples of elements.
Compounds are pure substances formed by the combination of elements; they can be
decomposed by ordinary chemical means. Baking soda is a compound; it contains the
elements sodium, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, and it decomposes on heating.

Mercury(II) oxide is another compound; it contains the elements mercury and oxygen,
and on heating it decomposes to those elements.

Mercury(II) Oxide

Compounds differ from mixtures in that the elements in a compound are held together
by chemical bonds and cannot be separated by differences in their physical properties.
The components of a mixture are not joined together by any chemical bonds, and they
can be separated from one another by differences in their physical properties.
Figure 3.1 reviews the relations between different kinds of matter. Notice that
mixtures can be separated into their components by differences in physical properties.
Compounds can be separated into their components only by chemical change.

FIGURE 3.1 The differences between the various kinds of matter.

Atoms - The Atomic Theory

By the end of the eighteenth century, experimenters had well established that each
pure substance had its own characteristic set of properties such as density, specific
heat, melting point, and boiling point. Also established was the fact that certain
quantitative relationships, such as the Law of Conservation of Mass, governed all
chemical changes. But there was still no understanding of the nature of matter itself.
Was matter continuous, like a ribbon from which varying amounts could be snipped,
or was it granular, like a string of beads from which only whole units or groups of
units could be removed? Some scientists believed strongly in the continuity of matter,
whereas others believed equally strongly in granular matter; both reasonings were
based solely on speculation.
In 1803, an English schoolmaster named John Dalton (1766-1844) summarized and
extended the then-current theory of matter. The postulates of his theory, changed only
slightly from their original statement, form the basis of modern atomic theory. Today,
we express these four postulates as:
1. Matter is made up of tiny particles called atoms. (A typical atom has a mass of
approximately 10 -23 g and a radius of approximately 10 -10 m.)
2. Over 100 different kinds of atoms are known; each kind is an element. All the
atoms of a particular element are alike chemically but can vary slightly in mass
and other physical properties. Atoms of different elements have different
masses.
3. Atoms of different elements combine in small, whole-number ratios to form
compounds. For example, hydrogen and oxygen atoms combine in a ratio of
2:1 to form the compound water, H2O. Carbon and oxygen atoms combine in a
ratio of 1:2 to form the compound carbon dioxide, CO 2. Iron and oxygen atoms
combine in a ratio of 2:3 to form the familiar substance rust, Fe 2O3.

4. The same atoms can combine in different whole-number ratios to form different
compounds. As just noted, hydrogen and oxygen atoms combined in a 2:1 ratio
form water; combined 1:1, they form hydrogen peroxide, H 2O2 (Figure 3.2).
Carbon and oxygen atoms combined in a 1:2 ratio form carbon dioxide;
combined in a 1:1 ratio, they form carbon monoxide, CO.

FIGURE 3.2 Atoms of the same elements combine in

different ratios to form different compounds.

The Elements
Elements are pure substances. The atoms of each element are chemically distinct and
different from those of any other element. Approximately 110 elements are now
known. By 1980, 106 of these had been unequivocally characterized and accepted by
the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Since that time,
elements 107 and 109 have been identified among the products of a nuclear reaction.
The search for new elements continues in many laboratories around the world; new
elements may be announced at any time.

A. Names and Symbols of the Elements

Each element has a name. Many of these names are already familiar to you - gold,
silver, copper, chlorine, platinum, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. The names
themselves are interesting. Many refer to a property of the element. The Latin name

for gold is aurum,meaning "shining dawn." The Latin name for

mercury, hydrargyrum, means "liquid silver."
The practice of naming an element after one of its properties continues. Cesium was
discovered in 1860 by the German chemist Bunsen (the inventor of the Bunsen
burner). Because this element imparts a blue color to a flame, Bunsen named it cesium
from the Latin word caesius, meaning "sky blue."
Other elements are named for people. Curium is named for Marie Curie (1867-1934),
a pioneer in the study of radioactivity. Marie Curie, a French scientist of Polish birth,
was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for her studies of radioactivity. She
was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for her discovery of the
elements polonium (named after Poland) and radium (Latin,radius, "ray").
Some elements are named for places. The small town of Ytterby in Sweden has four
elements named for it: terbium, yttrium, erbium, and ytterbium. Californium is
another example of an element named for the place where it was first observed. This
element does not occur in nature. It was first produced in 1950 in the Radiation
Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, by a team of scientists headed by
Glenn Seaborg. Seaborg was also the first to identify curium at the metallurgical
laboratory at the University of Chicago (now Argonne National Laboratory) in 1944.
Seaborg himself was named a Nobel laureate in 1951 in honor of his pioneering work
in the preparation of other unknown elements.
Each element has a symbol, one or two letters that represent the element much as your
initials represent you. The symbol of an element represents one atom of that element.
For 14 of the elements, the symbol consists of one letter. With the possible exceptions
of yttrium (Y) and vanadium (V), you are probably familiar with the names of all
elements having one-letter symbols. These elements are listed in Table 3.1. For 12 of
these elements, the symbol is the first letter of the name.
Potassium was discovered in 1807 and named for potash, the substance from which
potassium was first isolated. Potassium's symbol, K, comes from kalium, the Latin
word for potash. Tungsten, discovered in 1783, has the symbol W, for wolframite, the
mineral from which tungsten was first isolated.
TABLE 3.1 Elements with one-letter symbols
Symbol
B
C
F

Element
boron
carbon
fluorine

Symbol
P
K
S

Element
phosphorus
potassium
sulfur

H
I
N
O

hydrogen
iodine
nitrogen
oxygen

W
U
V
Y

tungsten
uranium
vanadium
yttrium

Most other elements have two-letter symbols. In these two-letter symbols, the first
letter is always capitalized and the second is always lowercased. Eleven elements
have names (and symbols) beginning with the letter C. One of these, carbon, has a
one-letter symbol, C. The other ten have two-letter symbols (see Table 3.2).
TABLE 3.2 Elements whose name begins with the letter C
Symbol
Cd
Ca
Cf
C
Ce
Cs

Element
cadmium
calcium
californium
carbon
cerium
cesium

Symbol
Cl
Cr
Co
Cu
Cm

Element
chlorine
chromium
cobalt
copper
curium

B. Lists of the Elements

While you study chemistry, you will often need a list of the elements. To see a list of
the elements click here. The list includes the symbol, the atomic number, and the
atomic weight of the element. The significance of atomic numbers and weights will be
discussed in Chapter 4. For now it is sufficient to know that each element has a
number between 1 and 110 called its atomic number. This number is as unique to the
element as its name or symbol.
The second list, called the periodic table, arranges the elements in order of increasing
atomic number in rows of varying length. The significance of the length of the row
and the relation among elements in the same row or column will be discussed in
Chapter 5. The periodic table appears by clicking on the inside of the front cover of

this text. Throughout the text we will refer to the periodic table, because it contains an
amazing amount of information. For now you need only be aware that elements in the
same column have similar properties and that the heavy stair-step line that crosses the
table diagonally from boron (B) to astatine (At) separates the metallic elements from
the nonmetallic elements. The periodic table is also shown in Figure 3.3. The screened
areas mark the elements you will encounter most often in this text.

1. Metals and nonmetals

Metals appear below and to the left of the heavy diagonal line in the periodic table.
The characteristic properties of a metal are:
1. It is shiny and lustrous.
2. It conducts heat and electricity.
3. It is ductile and malleable; that is, it can be drawn into a wire and can be
hammered into a thin sheet.
4. It is a solid at 20C. Mercury is the only exception to this rule; it is a liquid at
room temperature. Two other metals, gallium and cesium, have melting points
close to room temperature (19.8C and 28.4C).

Nonmetals vary more in their properties than do metals; some may even have one or
more of the metallic properties listed. Some nonmetals are gaseous; chlorine and
nitrogen are gaseous nonmetals. At 20C one nonmetal, bromine, is a liquid, and
others are solids - for example, carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus.

Bromine

Carbon

Sulfur

Red
Phosphorus

C. Distribution of the Elements

The known elements are not equally distributed throughout the world. Only 91 are
found in either the Earth's crust, oceans, or atmosphere; the others have been produced
in laboratories. Traces of some but not all of these elements have been found on Earth

or in the stars. The search for the others continues. You might read of its success or of
the isolation of new elements as you study this text.
TABLE 3.3 Distribution of elements in the Earth's crust, oceans, and atmosphere
Element
oxygen
silicon
aluminum
iron
calcium
sodium
potassium
magnesium
hydrogen
titanium

Percent of
total mass
49.2
25.7
7.50
4.71
3.39
2.63
2.40
1.93
0.87
0.58

Element
chlorine
phosphorous
manganese
carbon
sulfur
barium
nitrogen
fluorine
all others

Percent of
total mass
0.19
0.11
0.09
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.04
0.03
0.49

Table 3.3 lists the 18 elements that are most abundant in the Earth's crust, oceans, and
atmosphere, along with their relative percentages of the Earth's total mass. One of the
most striking points about this list is the remarkably uneven distribution of the
elements (see Figure 3.4). Oxygen is by far the most abundant element. It makes up
21% of the volume of the atmosphere and 89% of the mass of water. Oxygen in air,
water, and elsewhere constitutes 49.2% of the mass of the Earth's crust, oceans, and
atmosphere. Silicon is the Earth's second most abundant element (25.7% by mass).
Silicon is not found free in nature but occurs in combination with oxygen, mostly as
silicon dioxide (SiO2), in sand, quartz, rock crystal, amethyst, agate, flint, jasper, and
opal, as well as in various silicate minerals such as granite, asbestos, clay, and mica.
Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust (7.5%). It is always found
combined in nature. Most of the aluminum used today is obtained by processing
bauxite, an ore that is rich in aluminum oxide. These three elements (oxygen, silicon,
and aluminum) plus iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium make up more
than 97% of the mass of the Earth's crust, oceans, and atmosphere. Another surprising
feature of the distribution of elements is that several of the metals that are most
important to our civilization are among the rarest; these metals include lead, tin,
copper, gold, mercury, silver, and zinc.

FIGURE 3.4 Relative percentages by

mass of elements in the Earth's crust,
oceans, and atmosphere.

The distribution of elements in the cosmos is quite different from that on Earth.
According to present knowledge, hydrogen is by far the most abundant element in the
universe, accounting for as much as 75% of its mass. Helium and hydrogen together
make up almost 100% of the mass of the universe.
Table 3.4 lists the biologically important elements - those found in a normal, healthy
body. The first four of these elements - oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen--make
up about 96% of total body weight (see Figure 3.5). The other elements listed,
although present in much smaller amounts, are nonetheless necessary for good health.
TABLE 3.4 Biologically important elements (amounts given per 70-kg body weight)
Major
Approximate
Elements present in less
elements
amount (kg)
than 1-mg amounts
(listed
alphabetically)
oxygen
45.5
arsenic
carbon
12.6
chromium
hydrogen
7.0
cobalt
nitrogen
2.1
copper
calcium
1.0
fluorine
phosphorous
0.70
iodine
magnesium
0.35
manganese
potassium
0.24
molybdenum
sulfur
0.18
nickel
sodium
0.10
selenium
chlorine
0.10

iron
zinc

0.003
0.002

silicon
vanadium

FIGURE 3.5 The distribution of

elements (by mass) in the human
body.

D.How Elements Occur in Nature

Elements occur as single atoms or as groups of atoms chemically bonded together.
The nature of these chemical bonds will be discussed in Chapter 7. Groups of atoms
bonded together chemically are called molecules or formula units.
Molecules may contain atoms of a single element, or they may contain atoms of
different elements (in which case the molecule is of a compound.) Just as an atom is
the smallest unit of an element, a molecule is the smallest unit of a compound - that is,
the smallest unit having the chemical identity of that compound.
Let us consider how the elements might be categorized by the way they are found in
the universe.
1. The noble gases
Only a few elements are found as single, uncombined atoms; Table 3.5 lists these
elements. Under normal conditions, all of these elements are gases; collectively, they
are known as the noble gases. They are also called monatomic gases, meaning that
they exist, uncombined, as single atoms (mono means "one"). The formula for each of

the noble gases is simply its symbol. When the formula of helium is required, the
symbol He is used. The subscript 1 is understood.
TABLE 3.5
The noble gases
Symbol

Element

He

helium

Ne

neon

Ar

argon

Kr

krypton

Xe

xenon

Rn

radon

2. Metals
Pure metals are treated as though they existed as single, uncombined atoms even
though a sample of pure metal is an aggregate of billions of atoms. Thus, when the
formula of copper is required, its symbol, Cu, is used to mean one atom of copper.

Copper Metal

3. Nonmetals
Some nonmetals exist, under normal conditions of temperature and pressure, as
molecules containing two, four, or eight atoms. Those nonmetals that occur as
diatomic (two-atom)molecules are listed in Table 3.6. Thus, we use O 2 as the formula
for oxygen, N2 for nitrogen, and so on. Among the nonmetals, sulfur exists as S 8 and
phosphorus is found as P4. For other nonmetals (those not listed in Table 3.5 or 3.6) a
monatomic formula is used - for example, As for arsenic and Se for selenium.

TABLE 3.6 Diatomic elements

Formula

Name

Normal state

H2

hydrogen

colorless gas

N2

nitrogen

colorless gas

O2

oxygen

colorless gas

F2

fluorine

pale yellow gas

Cl2

chlorine

greenish yellow gas

Br2

bromine

dark red liquid

iodine

violet black solid

I2

4. Compounds
Although many elements can occur in the uncombined state, all elements except some
of the noble gases are also found combined with other elements in compounds. In
Section 3.1 we defined a compound as a substance that can be decomposed by
ordinary chemical means. A compound can also be defined as a pure substance that
contains two or more elements. The composition of a compound is expressed by a
formula that uses the symbols of all the elements in the compound. Each symbol is
followed by a subscript, a number that shows how many atoms of the element occur in
one molecule (the simplest unit) of the compound; the subscript 1 is not shown. Water
is a compound with the formula H2O, meaning that one molecule (or formula unit) of
water contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The compound sodium
hydrogen carbonate has the formula NaHCO 3, meaning that a single formula unit of
this compound contains one atom of sodium, one atom of hydrogen, one atom of
carbon, and three atoms of oxygen. Notice that the symbols of the metals in sodium
hydrogen carbonate are written first, followed by the nonmetals, and that, of the
nonmetals, oxygen is written last. This order is customary.
Sometimes a formula will contain a group of symbols enclosed in parentheses as, for
example, Cu(NO3)2. The parentheses imply that the group of atoms they enclose act as
a single unit. The subscript following the parenthesis means that the group is taken
two times for each copper atom.

Copper Nitrate

The properties of a compound are quite unlike those of the elements from which it is
formed. This fact is apparent if we compare the properties of carbon dioxide, CO 2 (a
colorless gas used in fire extinguishers), with those of carbon (a black, combustible
solid) and oxygen (a colorless gas necessary for combustion). The properties of
compounds are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 6.

The Reactions of Elements:

Simple Equations
A study of chemistry involves the study of chemical changes or, as they are more
commonly called, chemical reactions. Examples of chemical reactions are: the
combination of elements to form compounds, the decomposition of compounds (such
as sodium hydrogen carbonate or mercury(II) oxide), and reactions between
compounds, such as the reaction of vinegar (a solution of acetic acid) with baking
soda (sodium hydrogen carbonate). Reactions are usually described using chemical
equations. Equations may be expressed in words: Mercury(II) oxide decomposes to
mercury and oxygen. Using formulas, we state this reaction as:
2 HgO

2 Hg + O2

A chemical equation has several parts: The reactants are those substances with which
we start (here mercury(II) oxide, HgO, is the reactant). The arrow (
) means "reacts
to form" or "yields." The products are those substances formed by the reaction (here
mercury and oxygen are the products). The numbers preceding the formulas are called
coefficients. Sometimes the physical state of the reaction component is shown; we use
a lowercase, italic letter in parentheses following the substance to show its state. For
example, if the equation for the decomposition of mercury(II) oxide were written as:
2 HgO(s)

2 Hg(l) + O2(g)

we would know that the mercury(II) oxide was a solid, the mercury was a liquid, and
the oxygen was a gas when the reaction was carried out. The same equation is
repeated below with all the parts labeled:

Table 3.7 lists the parts of an equation and the notations commonly used.

TABLE 3.7 Parts of an equation

Reactants

The starting substances, which combine in the

reaction. (Formulas must be correct.)

Products

The substances that are formed by the

reaction. (Formulas must be correct.)

Arrows
Found between reactants and products, means
"reacts to form."
Used between reactants and products to show
that the equation is not yet balanced.
Placed after the formula of a product that is a
gas.
Placed after the formula of a product that is an
insoluble solid, also called a precipitate.
Physical
state

Indicates the physical state of the substance

whose formula it follows.
(g) Indicates that the substance is a gas
(l) Indicates that the substance is a liquid
(s) Indicates that the substance is a solid
(aq) Means that the substance is in aqueous
(water) solution

Coefficients

The numbers placed in front of the formulas to

balance the equation.

Conditions

Words or symbols placed over or under the

horizontal arrow to indicate conditions used to
cause the reaction.

hv
elec

Heat is added
Light is added
Electrical energy is added

A. Writing Chemical Equations

A correctly written equation obeys certain rules.
1. The formulas of all reactants and products must be correct.
Correct formulas must be used. An incorrect formula would represent a different
substance and therefore completely change the meaning of the equation. For example,
the equation
2 H2O2

2 H2O + O2

describes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. This reaction is quite different

from the decomposition of water, which is described by the equation
2 H2O

2 H2 + O2

When an uncombined element occurs in an equation, the guidelines in Section 3.3D

(parts 1, 2 and 3) should be used to determine its formula.

2. An equation must be balanced by mass.

An equation is balanced by mass when the number of atoms of each element in the
reactants equals the number of atoms of that element in the products. For example, the
equation shown for the decomposition of water has four atoms of hydrogen in the two
molecules of water on the reactant side and four atoms of hydrogen in the two
molecules of hydrogen gas on the product side; therefore, hydrogen is balanced. It has
two atoms of oxygen in the two reacting molecules of water and two atoms of oxygen
in the single molecule of oxygen produced; therefore, oxygen is also balanced.
2 H2O

2 H2 + O2

four (2 X 2) H atoms on the left = four (2 X 2) H atoms of the right

two (2 X 1) O atoms on the left = two (1 X 2) O atoms on the right

When the atoms are balanced, the mass is balanced and the equation obeys the Law of
Conservation of Mass.
You can write and balance equations in three steps:
1. Write the correct formulas of all the reactants. Use a plus sign (+) between the
reactants and follow the final reactant with an arrow. After the arrow, write the
correct formulas of the products, separating them with plus signs.
2. Count the number of atoms of each element on each side of the equation.
Remember that all elements present must appear on both sides of the equation.
3. Change the coefficients as necessary so that the number of atoms of each
element on the left side of the equation is the same as that on the right side.
Only the coefficients may be changed to balance an equation; the subscripts in
a formula must never be changed.