What is an element?
The English chemist Robert Boyle (1627-1691) defined an element as a substance which cannot be broken down into other simpler substances.
It is know that there are about 100 such basic substances. They include iron, gold, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, mercury and radium. Some have been made artificially.
Thus sugar is not an element because it can be broken down into oxygen, hydrogen and carbon. Salt is a mixture of sodium and chlorine. Air includes nitrogen, oxygen and other gases, and water can be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen.
Elements are each given a recognition symbol for use in chemical formulae and equations. Iron has Fe, gold Au, carbon C, Oxygen O, mercury Hg, radium Ra, and plutonium Pu.
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