Yes, pure iron is considered a pure substance.
Is Iron A Pure Substance? (Why or Why Not?)
A pure substance is a substance that is composed of only one kind of building block. That building block can be an element, or it can be a compound.
A good example of a pure substance that is an element is copper. Copper does not need any other substance to be attached to it or mixed with it to be copper.
A good example of a pure substance that is a compound is water. Water is formed when hydrogen and oxygen form bonds to each other in the right number and structure. But aside from the water compound, no other substances are needed or mixed in to make water what it is.
Iron is a pure substance because it is composed of one building block, the element iron.
However, if the pure iron were mixed with some other metal or substance as it often is to create “iron” for commercial purposes, or if the iron metal was allowed to rust, the sample would no longer be a pure substance.
Is Iron An Element?
Yes, pure iron is an element.
An element is any substance which cannot be broken down further into any other elements.
Iron is not bonded to any other substances (such as oxygen). It can bond to other materials, but when that happens, it is no longer considered “iron” and is no longer considered an element.
A good example of a substance which is not an element is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is formed when carbon and oxygen link up to each other. The carbon dioxide molecule can be broken apart into separate substances.
Thus carbon dioxide cannot be an element.
Is Iron A Compound?
No, iron is not a compound.
A compound is formed when two or more different substances connect up to each other with bonds.
Iron exists without connecting up to any other elements, compounds, materials, or substances.
It iron did hook up with some other material, we wouldn’t and couldn’t call it just “iron.”
Is Iron A Mixture?
No, Iron is not a mixture.
A mixture is a substance composed of two or more materials in the same physical space. The substances are not chemically or otherwise bonded to each other, and can easily be separated.
Iron is not a mixture because iron is iron without the involvement of any other substance.
If the iron were mixed up with another substance, it would likely be called another substance, and would not be called “iron.”
Is Iron Ore A Mixture?
The answer is, it depends.
As discussed above, iron is an element and a pure substance. It does not need to be mixed with anything or connected to anything to be iron.
Iron ore is what we call the rocks and material from which we extract pure iron.
The iron in these rocks is not pure iron. Usually this iron exists in the form of an iron oxide, such as hematite.
The ore may be made up of one kind of iron oxide (like all hematite), or the ore/rocks may be made up of many different kinds of iron oxide.
The rocks may also contain other non-oxide substances.
The iron ore could be a mixture if it contained more than one substance that was not chemically bonded to another.
The iron ore could also be considered a compound if it contained only type of combination of materials (like one kind of iron oxide).
But in general, there just isn’t one way to categories iron ore. It really depends on the ore in question.
Is Iron Ore Homogeneous?
The answer is that it depends.
To be homogeneous, the material needs to be chemically and often physically consistent throughout the entire sample of the material.
Iron ore is mined from the Earth, which can be a chaotic place. There is water down there, along with the various minerals that travel along with groundwater. The ore may be dug from the ground with other materials (like rock and dirt) stuck to it or inside it.
Iron ore certainly could be homogeneous, but in most cases, given that it is mined from the ground, it probably isn’t.
Is Iron Filings A Pure Substance Or A Mixture?
Iron filings are very small pieces of pure iron. In most cases they are so small that they look like a light powder.
Assuming that the iron filings are pure iron and nothing else mixed in or added in, we’d call them a pure substance.
Since iron filings are pure iron and not more than one type of material, it cannot be considered a mixture.
Is Sand and Iron Filings A Homogeneous Mixture?
No, we wouldn’t call a mix of sand and iron filings a homogeneous mixture.
A heterogeneous mixture is one that is not chemically consistent throughout.
A homogeneous mixture is a mixture that is chemically consistent throughout.
If you mixed a sample of sand and iron filings and mixed it up, it might look homogeneous, meaning it looks like it is consistent throughout.
But looking closer at the molecular level, the various grains of sand and particles of iron are spread out throughout the material haphazardly, in place as the result of being agitated or stirred.
Furthermore, unless you obtain perfectly pure sand composed of only one type of mineral or rock (like silica sand), the odds are even less that mixture will be chemically homogeneous because sand is notoriously heterogeneous itself.
Interested in learning more about pure substances and mixtures? Or whether materials like water, milk, coffee, salt, apple juice, motor oil, oxygen, brick, grape juice, or baking soda are considered pure substances or mixtures?
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