Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Dalton's Atomic Theory
1) All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible.

2) All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and properties

3) Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different kinds of atoms.

4) A chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms.

In his second postulates he says elements and in third the compounds. As a beginner of science my question is how we will recognize a matter whether it is element or compund?

Hello TheTruth1,

Sorry for the late answer! You can recognize whether matter is a compound or an element by this fact: an element is made up of the same type of atom (ex: the element hydrogen is only made of hydrogen atoms), whereas a compound is made up of multiple elements (ex: water is a compound made up of the elements hydrogen and oxygen).

Hope this helps!