Nepedia
Back to Discover
Independent Reader
⚛️

Chemical composition

physical science Maturity 9-11 Next article →

Everything in our world is made of tiny bits. These bits are called elements. A chemical composition tells us about these elements. It shows which elements are there. It shows how they are arranged. It also shows the ratio of the bits. A ratio shows how much of one thing we have compared to another.

We can use a chemical formula to show this. A formula is a special code. Let us look at water. The formula for water is H2O. This means one molecule of water has two hydrogen atoms. It also has one oxygen atom. This is a 2:1 ratio.

Scientists also use nomenclature. This is a way to give things names. These names tell us what is inside.

Some things are not just one thing. They are mixtures. A mixture has many parts. We call these parts components. We can measure how much of each part is there. We can use mass or volume to measure them. We can even use graphs to show these parts. These graphs are called ternary or quaternary plots.

178 words

Where will your curiosity go next?

Keep exploring at your chosen reading level.

More to explore

What is Nepedia?

A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.