How does a chemist such as Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev classify and organize discoveries, preventing confusion and removing future struggle during his experiments? In a chemist’s lab the expressions, element, compound, and mixture are stated frequently yet they are basic terms that are taught in a students first chemistry lesson ever. What are the differences between these terms and on the other hand how are they similar?
An element contains just one type of atom, for example gold, oxygen, and copper. On the other hand, a compound contains two or more different atoms joined together through chemical bonding, for instance water or table salt. The polar opposite of a compound is a mixture, it contains two or more different substances that are only physically joined together, not chemically, such as ink and air. A mixture can be considered similar to elements and compounds when taking into account it can contain both elements and compounds.
In the end these regularly occurring yet fundamental phrases are important to the study of matter, but could easily be mixed up.
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