I’m not sure what you mean by “pure water,” but organisms certainly need more than pure H2O and air to grow. They need a variety of minerals, potentially including nitrogen (in a usable form, which for most organisms doesn’t include atmospheric nitrogen), phosphorus, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and others. Now rainwater contains sufficient amounts of many of these minerals to support growth, but organisms can’t grow in pure distilled water without other inputs.
I’ve been told that sugar and salt are the only two common kitchen ingredients that don’t spoil, because they are pure chemicals. But how about baking soda or vinegar?
it is not that they are pure, it is if they are dry.
if kept dry lots of solids won’t spoil.
vinegar is wet. it will support the growth of some microorganisms.
Honey doesn’t go bad (any time soon).
Also, what do you consider ‘spoil’ there’s a difference between ‘it’ll make you sick’ and ‘most people won’t eat it’. After a few years baking soda or baking powder isn’t going to work as intended. Vinegar, after a few years, while still safe, will get "mother of vinegar’ in it. No one wants to use vinegar that looks like someone sneezed in it.
Yeah, those too. Vinegar is acetic acid solution (mostly), and baking soda is sodium bicarbonate.
Note though, that like we said, honey doesn’t spoil.
Lots of things don’t spoil under normal kitchen storage conditions. Rice, other grains. Soy sauce. Worcestershire sauce. Lots of things
Hell, look at how much produce can last so long. Pumpkins, turnips, potatoes, onions. People practiced agriculture for 4000+ years, and that frequently involved storing tuberous/bulb vegetables/starches well enough that they remained alive through the winter until next year when you’d plant again. This is what root cellars were for