Pure Substances Examples

A pure substance is any single type of material that are made of only one type of atom or only one type of molecule. Also, a pure substance can be defined as any single type of material that has not been contaminated by another substance. In chemistry, a pure substance has a definite composition. It can be a compound or a single element. An element is a pure substance that cannot be separated into simpler substances by chemical or physical means. There are about 117 elements, but carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen are only a few that make up the largest portion of Earth. The material is no longer a pure substance if it has been mixed with another pure substance. Two pure substances mixed together are known as a mixture. Scientists often use filtration to separate pure substances from a mixture in order to analyze the materials.

A chemical substance can be solid, liquid, gas, or plasma. Pure substances are often called pure to set them apart from mixtures. A substance can be anything. It doesn't have to consist of a single element or type of molecule. Pure hydrogen is a pure substance. So is pure honey, even though it consists of many different types of molecules. What makes both of these materials pure substances is that they are free from contamination. If you add some oxygen to the hydrogen, the resulting gas is neither pure hydrogen nor pure oxygen. If you add corn syrup to the honey, you no longer have pure honey. Pure alcohol could be ethanol, methanol or a mixture of different alcohols, but as soon as you add water, which is not alcohol, you no longer have a pure substance.

Most of the pure substances that you encounter in your daily life have been made pure by people through refining.

1. Gold

It has the same composition no matter where it comes from. Gold is made up of gold atoms. There are no other elements or compounds added to gold.

2. Diamonds

They are formed deep within Earth in only a very few areas. All the particles in a diamond are the same.

3. Water

Considered a pure substance if the water contains only hydrogen and oxygen. Pure water is difficult to find in nature. Even the clearest spring water contains dissolved minerals. In nature, pure substances tend to mix with other substances

4. Baking soda

Although there are a multitude of uses for baking soda, in its simplest form, it is not contaminated with any other chemical compounds.

5. Table salt

One of the most common household chemicals. Table salt is 97% to 99% sodium chloride. Pure sodium chloride is an ionic crystal solid.