Chemical

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

A chemical substance is any material substance used in or obtained by a process in chemistry. All things in the physical world are made up of chemical substances, whether pure like sugar and bars of gold, or as a mixture in air, rocks, chairs, and trees.

The following are kinds of chemical substances, and their constituent parts:

• A chemical element is a substance that cannot be decomposed or transformed into different substances by ordinary chemical methods. All matter fundamentally consists of chemical elements. Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, iron, and silver are examples of chemical elements.
  • The smallest particle of such an element is an atom, which consists of electrons centered about a nucleus of protons and neutrons. A chemical element consists of atoms with the same number of protons.

• A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more chemical elements that are chemically combined in definite proportions. Water, sodium chloride, methanol, propane, lactose, and cholesterol are examples of chemical compounds.
  • A molecule is the smallest particle of an element or compound that retains the chemical characteristics of the element or compound. A chemical compound consists of molecules composed of the same atoms in the same configuration.

• An ion is an atom or group of atoms with a net electric charge, having lost (cation) or gained (anion) an electron.

--Angel 15:58, 26 May 2006 (CDT)