Understanding the Basics of Chemistry: Is Air a Solution? What About Gasoline?

[msimard8]

Is the following a mixture, element, compound, solution (homogeneous)

a) air ---im guessing solution because there is many different molecules and its clear

b) gasoline ---i can't decide whether gas is a solution or compound. The gasoline is made up of hydrogen and carbon.


oh one more question...

when converting

126 mm^3 to _____cm^3 ...how do you do that. I haven't delt with squares and cubes before when converting. Is there a trick to it?. Thanks

 

[aalmighty]

Air and gasoline are mixtures, air is a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and other gases in trace quantities, gasoline is a mixture of Octane and other hydrocarbons.

as for the conversion, I think you'll get 0.126 as the answer. to do it yourself , you have the conversion factor 1cm=10mm, cube both sides and you'll get 1000 mm^3 = 1 cm^3 so 1 mm^3 = 10^(-3) cm^3, multiply both sides by 126 to get the answer.

 

[erok81]

I disagree with gasoline and air being mixtures. Here are a couple short definitions;

Mixture, a material that can be separated by physical means into two or more substances.

Solution, a mixture that is uniform in its properties throughout given samples.

If you have gas or air, they are all equally mixed and can't be separated by phsyical means.

But, I could be wrong because for some reason those always confused me. If I was answering it, that is what I would put.

If you cheat that last one and type it into google, you get the same answer as aalmighty did.