General Chemistry Online: Companion Notes: Matter: Classifying matter

2. Antoine Lavoisier, the "father of chemistry", listed lime as a chemical element in his table of 33 known elements. Which of the following observations shows that lime cannot be an element?

	Lime and carbon dioxide are produced when limestone is roasted.
	Lime melts at a temperature of 2572°C.
	When a certain soft metal is burned in oxygen, lime is produced (with no other products).
	Lime reacts with water, generating a large amount of heat.

3. A solid melts gradually between 85°C and 95°C to give a milky, oily liquid. When a laser beam shines through the liquid, the path of the beam is clearly visible. The milky liquid is likely to be:

a heterogenous mixture

a compound

an element

a solution

4. Vanillin contains 63.15% C, 5.30% H, and 31.55% O whether it is extracted from vanilla beans, synthesized chemically from clove oils, or extracted from wood pulp wastes. Vanillin is most likely to be:

	a compound of C, H, and O		a homogenous mixture of elements
	a heterogeous mixture of elements		a solution of C in H and O

5. The meteorite ALH84001 contains tiny bubbles of gas trapped in the rock. The chemical composition of the gas in these bubbles matches the composition of the Martian atmosphere as determined by Viking spacecraft in the 1970's. The meteorite is an example of a(n)

binary compound

solution

heterogeneous mixture

element

homogeneous mixture

General Chemistry Online! Classifying matter