elements or compounds?

Question

if a piece of hard white blackboard chalk is heated strongly in a flame, the mass of the piece of chalk will decrease, and eventually the chalk will crumble into a fine white dust. does this change suggest that the chalk is composed of an element or a compound?

Answer 1

You know what's so much easier than chemistry? Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk
All the types of chalk they list are compounds. Thus, the answer is a compound.

It's probably the part where the mass decreases that's supposed to tell you that.

Answer 2

compound I believe