Is air inside a balloon a mixture heterogeneous?

Answer 1

homogeneous

Answer 2

This is a tough question... Some chemists will say both.

For example, you could argue that air in a balloon is a heterogeneous mixture. We say it is heterogeneous because it is made up of many different types off substances. For example, air is about 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and 1% Argon. In addition it has very small amounts of other molecules like water and carbon dioxide. It also contains dust and other aerosols. Because it is made of so many different things, it is a heterogeneous mixture,

On the other hand, it acts like a homogeneous mixture. When you observe air, you don't see all the individual pieces that make it up. You see an overall mixture. When it travels (like when wind blows) it does so as one big group. On the surface of the earth, it doesn't separate at all. (It does separate as you go higher in the atmosphere, past the mesosphere where it definitely becomes heterogeneous.)

If you are asking this as a high school student taking a chemistry course, I'd venture to say that your teacher wants you to call it a homogeneous mixture of gasses. Even though it's made of different compounds that act independently of one another on certain occasions (like when you burn a match you are only burning oxygen.... not argon or nitrogen), many say it's homogeneous.

Answer 3

I think it is homogeneous because it is different than the air we breathe.

Answer 4

Pretty much a pure substance- the element helium.

Answer 5

yes