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Trimix is a mixture, not a chemical compound, so it has no chemical formula, though the mix of gasses you listed is right.catherine96821:
CO is carbon monoxide...
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ok.....kinda nice having kev around....
so, if you can write Co2 as "carbon dioxide" whats wrong with the way I wrote tri-mix?
Jagfish, run that by me again please. are you saying you can only write the chemical equation for a compound?
so, if you can write Co2 as "carbon dioxide" whats wrong with the way I wrote tri-mix?
Jagfish, run that by me again please. are you saying you can only write the chemical equation for a compound?
Kevrumbo
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By definition, when you create a mixture, no new substances are formed. Each constituent of a mixture retains its own physical properties. However when a compound is formed, it is a new substance with new properties. For example, there are always two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen in a certain compound, and they always come together in these definite proportions hence the molecular formula H2O. And this new substance called Water definitely has different properties than either the Hydrogen or Oxygen used to make it. On-the-other-hand you could blend various proportions of Hydrogen and Oxygen Gas together (very exotic deep diving gas mix!), and the combination could form a mixture that could be separated once again if you wanted to, by the different weights of the elemental gases, each retaining their own physical properties. But Bert and Ernie beware! --Taking a lighted match to the mix can instantly form the compound H20 instead. . . plus a whole helluva lot of Explosive Energy!!:icon10:catherine96821:
Hi Cathcatherine96821:
It's just convention. I was a chemistry major in my younger days. As Kev alludes to, we generally only write chemical formulas for chemically combined compounds. If I saw what you had written (02 He N2) I'd get myself all confused trying to figure out how they were bonded (which is impossible).
Sorry to ramble...
A chemical formula is the makeup of a *molecule*.catherine96821:
CO2 (capital O) is a single atom of carbon bonded directly to two atoms of oxygen. It is a single molecule.
Trimix is just a mixture of different molecules all floating around in the same area. You have oxygen molecules (O2), nitrogen molecules (N2), and helium molecules (He).
Think of them as particles of sand. Oxygen grains are the red ones, nitrogen grains are the green ones, and helium grains are the blue ones. Pouring a bunch of them in the same bucket doesn't change what the individual grains are. There are no red-blue-green grains, there are still red grains, blue grains, and green grains, just mixed together.
On another note, each set of letters represents an element. The symbol for oxygen is O. The symbol for carbon is C. The symbol for helium is He. The first letter of an element's symbol is *always* capitalized, and the second letter, if one exists, is *always* written lower case. Co2 would indicate two atoms of a fictional Co element bonded together.
jdh
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jonnythan:
Helium is monatomic.
Of course, of course. It was early. Thanks for the correction.
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