Important Definitions

Matter
Anything that takes up mass and volume.

Pure substance
Made up of only one kind of matter. For example sucrose or table sugar is a pure
substance, it contains only the compound sucrose. All elements are pure substances
because they are made up of only one kind of atom.

Mixture
Two or more pure substances mixed together. Coca cola is a mixture of water, sugar,
flavorings etc. Mixtures can be homogeneous or uniform in composition or
heterogeneous not uniform in composition. An example of a homogeneous mixture is
milk and sea water. All the substances that make up milk and sea water are mixed
uniformly. Soil is an example of a heterogeneous mixture. It is made up of sand, silt,
leaves, rocks etc.

Atom
The smallest part of matter. Made up of protons, electrons and neutrons.

Ion
An atom that has gained or lost electrons.

Element
A pure substance made up of only one type of atom joined together with chemical
bonds. For example the element carbon is made up only of carbon atoms. The atoms
are arranged differently depending on whether the element is a solid, liquid or gas.
Each element has a different number of atoms depending on the amount of the
element.

There are 7 diatomic elements, hydrogen, H2 ; oxygen, O2 ; nitrogen, N2 ; iodine, I2 ;

chlorine, Cl2 ; fluorine, F2 ; bromine, Br2 which have two atoms joined together. They are
all gases.

All the elements known are organized on the periodic table. They are written in their
symbol form as shown on the periodic table, except for the seven diatomic elements,
sulfur (S8) and phosphorus (P4).

Molecule
Two or more non-metal atoms joined together by covalent bonds. The atoms can be
the same or different. For example H2O, CO2, H2, O2, N2, S8

Compound
Two or more different non-metal atoms or two or more metal / non-metal atoms joined
together with chemical bonds. For example: H2O, CO2, NaCl, Na2O