Question

How does an element differ from a compound?

Answer 1

Hint The answer is based on the fact in general chemistry where the differentiation of elements and compounds is based on its composition, that is the state in which they exist.

Complete step – by – step answer:
In the classes of chemistry, we have studied the concept of atoms and compounds which comes under the basic concepts of chemistry chapter which tells us about the definitions regarding atoms and compounds and their properties.
Let us now see in detail about these two terms and approach the answer.
- An atom is named for the smallest particle that exists on earth which constitutes the whole universe together.- An atom is about 100 picometers small in size and consists of a central nucleus in which the protons and neutrons are concentrated and the electrons revolve around it.
- An element exists independently as monatomic or di and triatomic based on the stability and they are together called as an atom.
- Some examples include, hydrogen$H$ , nitrogen${{N}_{2}}$ etc. that is for instance an element hydrogen is made from atoms containing just one proton and one electron.
-Compounds are named when the two or more atoms combine together to form a stable substance.
- Compounds may vary from only two atoms in it to very large structures such as aromatics, aliphatic chains and so on.
Thus, atoms are the ones which exist independently and the compounds are the species that exist with the combination of two or more atoms.
- Examples for this includes $N{{O}_{2}}$ (Nitrogen dioxide), ${{H}_{2}}O$ (water), ${{C}_{6}}{{H}_{12}}{{O}_{6}}$ (Glucose) etc.

Note: Note that the difference between the element of and the atom is that an element is the substance that is made entirely from one type of atom and the atom is the one which has the same number of protons, neutrons and electrons.