No, wood is not a pure substance. It is made up of multiple substances, most of which are not bonded to each other.
In the article that follows, we’ll explain what a pure substance is, and how it is that wood does not qualify.
Is Wood A Pure Substance? (EXPLAINED)
First, let’s talk about what a pure substance is.
People like to call a pure substance one that is made up of one kind of element (like gold or copper), or they think of it as a substance that has no pollutants.
A pure substance is a material which has one kind of building block.
These building blocks can be elements or compounds, so long as there is only one kind of element, or one kind of compound.
If you are talking about compounds, there can be only one kind of compound in the material.
A good example of a pure substance that is made up a compound is carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is made up of carbons bonded to oxygen, over and over in an orderly fashion.
There are no other materials.
Next, let’s talk about what wood is.
The wood of a tree is porous, and fibrous. It is composed of living cells and dead cells.
These cells make up cellulose, and lignin.
The cellulose is the fibers, and the lignin holds the fibers together.
In addition to the structure of the tree (cellulose and lignin), a living tree also contains many different kinds of substances, such as sap, water, and other chemicals or minerals that the tree absorbs as it takes in water from the ground.
Even after a tree has been cut, the wood retains much of these, though over time it loses the water.
Since wood is made up of multiple kinds of materials and compounds, it cannot be a pure substance.
Is Wood a Mixture?
Wood is more rightly considered a mixture.
A mixture is a material made up of more than one substance, where the substances are not chemically bonded to each other.
In general, the substances can be separated from each other (even at a molecular level) without the requirement of a chemical reaction to break chemical bonds.
While wood may not look like a mixture (if you were thinking of making a cake, for example), it is.
Wood is made up of multiple substances. These substances are not bonded to each other at a molecular level, though from the eye ball view it is hard to see how they could be separated.
Because wood is made up of multiple substances that can be separated, it is a mixture.
Is Wood a Heterogeneous or Homogeneous Mixture?
Wood is a heterogeneous mixture.
A homogeneous mixture is one that is chemically consistent throughout.
This means that if you were to take a sample from one area of the substance, any other sample would be the same, regardless of where you took the same.
A heterogeneous mixture is one that is not chemically consistent throughout the material.
This means that if you were to take a sample from one area, it could be different from a sample taken elsewhere.
Wood in a living tree is not consistent. There may be more water in some areas than others. There may be more sap here, or there.
The tree may be more dense in certain areas (cells are more closely packed) than in other areas.
Wood grows and is formed in response to the environment. This ability helps it survive. But this also means that wood is not a consistent mixture.
If you were to take a sample from a log and test it against a sample of the same log in a different area, you might find more or less water, minerals, or even chemicals.
Is A Wooden Chair A Pure Substance?
No, a wooden chair is not a pure substance.
As discussed above, wood is made up of many different kinds of substances and materials.
Since a pure substance can only contain one kind of building block (such as an element or compound), a wooden chair is not a pure substance.
As noted above, we consider wood to be a heterogeneous mixture.
A heterogeneous mixture is a mixture where there are more than one substances present that are not chemically bonded to each other.
And these substances are not present consistently throughout.
For this reason, it logically flows that a wooden chair is not a homogeneous material.
While a chair appears to be consistent in material, at a molecular level, this is not the case.
Samples of the wooden chair will likely differ from samples of the chair elsewhere, as you would expect a tree to be.
Is it possible for a wooden chair to be a homogeneous mixture?
Yes, it is.
This will depend on the wood and where the wood was taken from on the tree, especially if the original source of the wood was quite large, and the materials were taken from the same area.
But in general, this will be the exception and not the rule.
Interested in learning more about pure substances and mixtures?
Or whether materials like water, milk, coffee, salt, or baking soda are considered pure substances or mixtures?
