Classify each of the following as an element or compound and explain your classification.
A. Carbon dioxide (The gas we breathe out)
B. Xenon (A guess sometimes used as an anesthetic)
Solution
A. Carbon dioxide is a compound. From its name, you can tell that this substance contains carbon and “ something else” (even if you did not know that oxide is a name often used for oxygen when it is in compounds). Because carbon dioxide contains two different elements, it is a compound.
B. Xenon is an element. Look for Xenon on the periodic table. You will find it in group 8a (18). This gas is becoming more common as an anesthetic agent because unlike other anesthetic-such as nitrous oxide, which depletes the ozone layer of the atmosphere-it has minimal effects on the environment.
I agree with your answers. I didn't know it had uses as an anesthetic agent.
Funny because it’s not my answers it came from the book and it’s totally confusing and was looking to see if anyone else understood.
Elements are composed of atoms of the same kind. All of the atoms of an element contain the same number of protons and electrons. The periodic table lists the elements in order of their number of protons.
Compounds are composed of two or more elements. For example, Na2O, KClO3, NaCl, C12H22O11 etc. are compounds.
To classify each of the following as an element or compound, you need to identify the composition of each substance.
A. Carbon dioxide (The gas we breathe out):
To classify carbon dioxide, you can look at its name. Carbon dioxide contains the elements carbon and oxygen. The presence of two different elements - carbon and oxygen - indicates that it is a compound. Therefore, carbon dioxide is a compound.
B. Xenon (A gas sometimes used as an anesthetic):
To classify xenon, you can refer to the periodic table. Xenon is found in group 8a (18) of the periodic table. As an element, xenon is considered a pure substance that consists of only one kind of atom. Therefore, xenon is an element.
In summary:
A. Carbon dioxide is a compound because it contains carbon and oxygen.
B. Xenon is an element because it consists of only xenon atoms.