_____Sugar, specifically table sugar (sucrose), is a pure substance, not a mixture. It is a compound made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in a specific ratio (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁). However, when sugar is combined with other ingredients (like in a sugar-water solution or in baking), it can form mixtures. But in its pure form, sugar is classified as a compound.
_____Sugars are compounds. There are, of course, many different kinds of sugars that people know of, such as Sucrose (table sugar), Fructose, (sugar from fruits), glucose (blood sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and so on. If a chemical name ends in -ose, it’s a sugar. Sugars are interesting and versatile compounds, because their chemical structure is based on a basic ringed unit. This allows them to link up in multiple units. Simple sugars are single-ring-units called monosaccharide, such as glucose and fructose:
There are sugars made of two rings, called disaccharides, such as sucrose and lactose:
