Answer:

Names and Symbols for Elements and Compounds

1 | Symbols for Elements

2 | Formulas for Compounds

3 | Some Things to Remember

4 | Summary

Explanation:

Symbols for Elements

Each type of atom or element can be represented by a unique chemical symbol consisting of one or two letters.

The first letter is written as a capital and the second letter, if there is one, is written in lowercase.

Examples

▸ Carbon can be represented by the symbol C.

▸ Neon can be represented by the symbol Ne.

▸ Silver can be represented by the symbol Ag.

carbon neon silver chemical symbol

Chemical symbols are abbreviations for the name of the element.

Often the symbols are based on the Latin name for the element, so it isn’t always obvious why an element has a particular symbol.

Example 1

The symbol “C” for carbon is based on the Latin word “carbo”, meaning “coal”.

This is quite similar to the English name.

Example 2

The symbol “Ag” for silver is based on the Latin word “argentum”, meaning “shiny”.

This is very different to the English name.

It’s not necessary to memorise the chemical symbols of all the elements (as you can always consult a periodic table), but it can be helpful to memorise the common ones.

For example, try learning the names and symbols of the first 20 elements, as you will encounter these a lot in chemistry. They are listed in the following table.

Element Number Element Name Element Symbol

• Hydrogen H
• Helium He
• Lithium Li
• Beryllium Be
• Boron B
• Carbon C
• Nitrogen N
• Oxygen O
• Fluorine F
• Neon Ne