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Electrical properties of materials ©  copyright M.J.Morris 2002

1.02 Elements and compounds

Elements and compounds
An element is a material that is made of only one type of atom (all of the previous examples are elements). A compound is a material that is made up of molecules that contain more than one type of atom. Water is an example of a compound, its molecules are made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bonded together (H₂O).

• An atom is the smallest component in an element that retains the chemical properties of the element. (e.g. you can have a single atom of copper or iron)
• A molecule is the smallest component of a compound that retains the chemical properties of the compound. (e.g. you can have a single molecule of water but if we break the water molecule apart, we end up with hydrogen and oxygen atoms which have totally different chemical properties to water)