Question

This structure shows how atoms make up sugar. The different colors represent different types of atoms. Is sugar an element, just a molecule, or a molecule and a compound? How do you know?

Answer 1

Sugar is a compound as it has bonds between the atoms from different elements present in the structure. This is clearly different than a mixture, which has different atoms but no bonds, and an element, which only has one type of atom

Answer 2

Sugar is both a molecule and a compound because it consists of multiple atoms of different elements (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) chemically bonded together.

The sugar molecules, modeled by atoms of different colors representing different types of atoms, indicate that sugar is not an element, but it is both a molecule and a compound. An element contains only one type of atom. In contrast, a molecule is a group of two or more atoms chemically bonded together, and a compound is a substance composed of two or more different elements joined by chemical bonds.

As sugar is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, it fulfills the criteria for being both a molecule and a compound. For example, sucrose, a common table sugar, has a molecular formula of C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, clearly showing it contains multiple different atoms chemically bonded.