(and even then your body wouldn’t function optimally)Īnd if it were only one of those gases, we would just call them what they are (aka hydrogen), because that isolated gas is not “air.” If Air Is Not A Pure Substance, What Is It?Īir is considered a heterogeneous mixture. If the air was separated into its constituent parts, and you breathed only one of those gases (like oxygen, nitrogen, or hydrogen), you wouldn’t survive for long unless that gas was oxygen. By definition, air is the gaseous substance that we breath.

Could Air Ever Be Considered A Pure Substance? Now, knowing what a “pure substance” is and what “air” is, can’t you see why it is that air does not qualify? The air that we breath also usually contains some water vapor, though this fluctuates depending where you are in the world and what the weather is like.Īnd, depending on whether you are near to a large city, to a manufacturing center, or in the vicinity of an active volcano, the air is likely to contain at least some amount of tiny particulate matter that we would consider pollutants. It contains oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, and xenon. The air that we breath is composed of many substances. In many cases, this is an element (like gold), or the substance is made up of one kind of compound (like water, which is made up of oxygen bonded to hydrogen).įor the sake of this discussion, we are assuming that air is the gas that you are breathing when you walk about of your house.

Is Air A Pure Substance? (Why or Why Not?)įirst, let’s talk about what a pure substance is.Ī pure substance is a material that is made up or only one kind of material. In the article that follows, we’ll explain what a pure substance is and why air does not qualify.

It is made up of multiple substances, and some of which are chemically bonded to each other.

Pure substance definition