SUBSTANCES

Substances are the central part of chemistry. Substance is a kind of matter. But, what is matter than? One of the several definitions about matter is: matter is anything which has mass, occupies space and has real physical existence. For instance, a piece of paper has mass, occupies space and exists physically. Therefore, the paper is matter or paper is a substance. Air, gold, milk, aspirin, pizza - these are all matter. Some things which are not matter are: heat, colour, dream, hope, idea, beauty It becomes clear that substance is a kind of matter of which all objects and life organisms are composed. Substances are divided into pure substances and mixtures. Pure substance is a kind of matter that cannot be separated into other kinds of matter by any physical process (e.g. sulphur, water, iron, carbon dioxide etc.). It has the same colour, taste, texture and composition. Also it is made up of the same particles. Pure substances are homogeneous with definite (constancy) composition.
copper coin white and red phosphorus

blue vitriol

Further, pure substances are divided into simple substances (elements) and compounds. Simple substance is a pure substance composed of only one kind of atoms (e.g. copper and phosphorus left pictures). This kind of substance is the simplest form of matter and cannot be separated into simpler substances by chemical reaction. A contrary, compound is a pure substance containing different kinds of atoms, chemically combined in a specific ratio (e.g. sugar, starch, cellulose and blue vitriol right pictures). Compare to the simple substances, compounds are more complex and can be separated into simpler substances only by chemical reactions. Water, for instance, is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, with two hydrogen atoms for each oxygen atom. Consequently, water decomposes into two simple substances hydrogen and oxygen and this process usually is performed by electricity (or high temperature around 800 C). Mixture is a combination of two or more pure substances that are not chemically united and that exist in no fixed proportion to each other i.e. has variable composition. Hence, mixture is formed by mixing of two or more pure substances. For example, water and sugar, both are compounds and have definite composition. If we mix them, sugar dissolves in water in varying Figure 1. amounts to give many mixtures with a wide range of composition (figure 1).

It is important to know that each substance in the mixture retains its physical properties. Mixtures can be homogeneous and heterogeneous. Homogeneous mixtures are called solutions and have uniform composition. This means that if were examining a portion of a solution of sugar in water, we would find that it has the same properties as any other portion of the same solution. We could also say that the solution consist of a single phase (a phase is defined as any part of a system that has a particular set of uniform composition and properties). A heterogeneous mixture has non-uniform composition. An example is oil and water. This mixture consists of two phases - oil and water (left pictures). If we shake the mixture, the oil will be dispersing as small droplets throughout the water, but droplets are still oil. Since oil is not soluble in water, after period of time they will separate from each other. When a mixture is prepared, the chemical properties of the component (often their physical properties, too) do not change. Therefore, mixtures can be also defined as substances, which can be separated into their components by using simple physical methods, but knowing the physical properties of the components. The knowledge of physical properties of substances and their changes could be applied to separate mixtures into their components. Mixtures are separated into various components by simple physical methods (techniques) such as: decantation, filtration, distillation (or fractional distillation), sublimation, crystallization, evaporation, chromatography...etc. Whish of these pictures could match with mentioned physical methods?

Gas Changes of state Liquid Solid

Substances

Pure substances
Definite
composition

can be separate by physical methods

Mixtures
Variable composition

uniform composition

Homogeneous (Solutions)

Heterogeneous
nonuniform composition

can be separate by chemical reaction

Compounds
more kinds of atoms

Simple substances
one kind of atom

metals m e ta ls semmimetals

nonmetals nonmetals