question for people good at science?

Question

hydrogen chloride, a gaseous pure substance, can be decomposed into two different gases, each of which acts like a pure substance (i'm guessing they're hydrogen and chlorine).

a. can hydrogen chloride be an element?
b. can either of the other two gases be an element?
c. can you be sure taht any of the pure substances mentioned is an element?

if you can, plz answer or give hints to these questions...thanks!

Answer 1

Hydrogen and chlorine are both pure elements. They're both gases.

Hydrogen chloride CANNOT be an element. Elements are only expressed as ONE name, not two together.

Either of the two gases can be elements, sure. The -ide ending has to do with the chemical formula (as opposed to say, -ate, which denotes more than one element in the mix.)

If a gas "acts like a pure substance," then it's an element. Some gases only like to occur in certain forms, like, say, oxygen, which is only really stable as O2 (O3 is ozone and somewhat unstable.) But if you took one atom of oxygen, it would act about like O2 (though it would be slightly different as far as chemical formulas. But chemical formulas are based on electrons bonding, stuff like that.)

a. No
b. Yes
c. Yes

Answer 2

Elements are pure substances. Therefore, a combination of elements cannot be elements in and of themselves.

Both of the gases can be elements.

I'm not sure that either hydrogen nor chlorine is a naturally-occurring pure element, so I'd say no for the third part.

Answer 3

a) Nooo... You can't break up elements. Hydrogen and chlorine are elements.
b) Yes.
c) Do you have a copy of the periodic table on hand?