Ask a Teacher

Search



How will you justify that air is a mixture and not a compound?

Air is not a compound because its components are not chemically bonded. The parts of a compound and the compound itself have different properties.

Consider the formation of table salt:
2Na (s) + Cl2 (g) --> 2NaCl (s)

Salt is a compound because Na is chemically (ionically) bonded with Cl; "Sodium chloride" is distinct from sodium" and "chloride."

---

Air is a mixture because the individual compounds and molecules (O2, N2, CO2, etc...) still stay the same while they are mixed in with each other.

So air is just a combination of different gasses. These gasses are not combined together on the molecular scale. They just exist with each other.


comments powered by Disqus