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Chapter Two: Properties of Pure Substance

2-1 PURE SUBSTANCE
A substance that has a fixed chemical composition throughout is called a pure substance. Water, nitrogen, helium, and carbon dioxide, for example, are all pure substances. A pure substance does not have to be of a single chemical element or compound, however. A mixture of various chemical elements or compounds also qualifies as a pure substance as long as the mixture is homogeneous.
Air, for example, is a mixture of several gases, but it is often considered to be a pure substance because it has a uniform chemical composition (Fig. 2–1). However, a mixture of oil and water is not a pure substance. Since oil is not soluble in water, it will collect on top of the water, forming two chemically dissimilar regions. A mixture of two or more phases of a pure substance is still a pure substance as long as the chemical composition of all phases is the same (Fig. 2–2). A mixture of ice and liquid water, for example, is a pure substance because both phases have the same chemical composition. A mixture of liquid air and gaseous air, however, is not a pure substance since the composition of liquid air is different from the composition of gaseous air, and thus the mixture is no longer chemically homogeneous. This is due to different components in air condensing at different temperatures at a specified pressure.