Can a compound only contain one kind of atom?

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Answer 1 · 2018-04-24T06:28:20

No.

By definition a compound is composed of two or more different elements chemically bonded, which is same as saying more than one kind of atom.

Examples of compounds:

$"H"_2"O"$

$"NaCl"$

$"MgSO"_4"$

$"CH"_4"$

Examples of molecules that are not compounds but contain more than one atom, each of which is the same kind of atom. These are diatomic elements.

$"H"_2"$

$"N"_2"$

$"O"_2"$

$"F"_2"$