Pure Substances and Percent Composition
Ever wonder what makes water always water, no matter where you find it? It's because pure substances have a fixed composition - they're made of only one kind of particle (atoms, compounds, or molecules) in a consistent ratio.
Think of pure substances like a perfect recipe that never changes. Water (H₂O) always has a 1:2 ratio of oxygen to hydrogen atoms, which translates to a mass ratio of 16 grams of oxygen to 2 grams of hydrogen. This consistency is what defines pure substances.
You can calculate the percentage of each element in a compound using this formula:
% Mass = (Total Mass of Element ÷ Total Mass of Compound) × 100
For example, in water (H₂O), oxygen makes up 89% of the mass (16g ÷ 18g × 100), while hydrogen accounts for only 11% (2g ÷ 18g × 100).
💡 Quick Tip: When analyzing unknown compounds, remember that different chemical formulas can have the same percent composition if they maintain the same ratio of elements. For instance, N₂O₄, N₃O₆, and N₄O₈ all have approximately 30.4% nitrogen and 69.6% oxygen because they all have the same 1:2 ratio of N to O.