2.3.5

Chemical Symbols

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Chemical Symbols

Instead of writing the element or compound name every time, scientists have symbols for each element, which makes writing about them easier.

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Chemical symbols

  • Every element has a symbol, which is shown on the periodic table.
  • Some symbols are just one letter, some are two. The first letter is always a capital. If there is a second letter, it is always lower case.
  • E.g.
    • Hydrogen is ‘H’.
    • Helium is ‘He’.
    • Magnesium is ‘Mg’.
    • Sulfur ‘S’.
    • Lithium is ‘Li’.
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Odd symbols

  • Usually, the chemical symbol relates to the element's name. But some are completely different.
  • E.g.
    • Potassium is ‘K’.
    • Sodium is ‘Na’.
    • Gold is ‘Au’.
    • Copper is ‘Cu’.
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Paired atoms

  • Some gas elements have atoms that travel as single atoms, whereas other gas elements have atoms that travel in pairs.
  • If atoms travel around in pairs, then we put a little ‘2’ at the bottom to show there are two atoms that are joined together.
  • The elements that have atoms in pairs are:
    • Oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine.

Jump to other topics

1Biology

1.1Cells, Tissues & Organs

1.2Reproduction & Variation

1.3Ecological Relationships & Classification

1.4Digestion & Nutrition

1.5Plants & Photosynthesis

1.6Biological Systems & Processes

2Chemistry

2.1Particles

2.2Chemical Reactions

2.3Atoms, Elements, Compounds

2.4The Periodic Table

2.5Materials & the Earth

2.6Reactivity

2.7Energetics

2.8Properties of Materials

3Physics

3.1Energy

3.2Forces & Motion

3.3Waves

3.4Electricity & Magnetism

3.5Matter

3.6Space Physics

4Thinking Scientifically

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