Chemical Symbols

Science: KS3, topic 2.1.22

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

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’.

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’.

Some gas elements have atoms that travel as single atoms. 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.

Test yourself on Chemical Symbols

What is the chemical symbol for potassium?
What is the chemical symbol for gold?
Choose the correct statement in each pair.
Chemical symbols always start with a capital letter, and any second letter is written in lower case. Which of these is the correctly formatted symbol for a newly named element called Zenon?
Oxygen, nitrogen and chlorine atoms all travel in pairs, so a small 2 is added to their symbol to show this. Which of these elements would not need a small 2 added to its symbol?