Complete the statement.
Ethane is ().
A: an elementary substance
B: a compound
You can tell whether ethane is an elementary substance or a compound by counting the number of atomic symbols in its chemical formula. An atomic symbol consists of either one capital letter or a capital letter followed by one or two lowercase letters.
The chemical formula for ethane, C2 H6, contains two atomic symbols: C for carbon and H for hydrogen. So, the formula tells you that ethane is composed of two chemical elements bonded together.
Since ethane is composed of multiple chemical elements bonded together, ethane is a compound.