Pure substances and mixtures

The meaning of pure

The word pure is used in chemistry in a different way from its everyday meaning. For example, shops sell cartons labelled as ‘pure' orange juice. The label means that the contents are just orange juice, with no other substances added. However, the juice is not pure in the chemical sense, because it contains different substances mixed together. In chemistry:

  • a pure substance consists only of one element or one compound
  • a mixture consists of two or more different substances, not chemically joined together
A mixed pile of sweets is separated into four piles of different colours - red, green, yellow and purple.The components of a mixture can be separated without chemical reactions

Different types of chemical substance

  • an element contains just one type of atom
  • a compound contains two or more types of atom joined together
  • a mixture contains two or more different substances that are not joined together
  • the different substances in a mixture can be elements or compounds, or both

The table shows some examples of mixtures:

Table with examples and diagrams of a pure element (oxygen), pure compound (carbon dioxide), mixture of elements (oxygen and helium), mixture of compounds (alcohol and water), mixture of elements and compounds (air)

Notice that the different substances in a mixture can be single atoms, molecules of elements or molecules of compounds.