Elements and Compounds
Elements
Certainly, you have seen gold, silver, or iron. No matter how far you divide
pure gold, you will get nothing but gold. The same is applicable in the cases
with silver or iron. When divided, the matter that does not yield anything
but itself is called an element.
Besides the above three, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, carbon, helium, argon,
magnesium, sulfur, etc. are also elements. So far, a total of 118 elements
have been discovered.
Out of them, 98 elements are available in nature and the rest are made in the
laboratory. The second group is known as artificial elements.
Compounds
You have already known that an element yields the element only. If water is
analyzed, we shall find two different elements- hydrogen and oxygen. In the
same way, if we analyze writing chalk, we get calcium, carbon, and oxygen.
The substances which, if divided, give away two or more elements are called
compounds. In a compound, elements will always exist in the same ratio. For
example, chemical analysis of any water sample collected from any place will
show two hydrogens and one oxygen.
That means the ratio of hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water is 2 : 1. The
characteristics of compounds are different from those of elements they are
made of. Again, for example, at normal room temperature, hydrogen and oxygen
are gaseous elements but when they make water, it is a liquid.
