Answer:

A symbol of an element is used to represent an individual element or the atoms of the elements.

They are generally used to represent elements in a chemical reaction. For example: The symbol O represents one atom of the element oxygen. The symbol C represents one atom of the element carbon. Symbol represents the definite mass of the element. It represents one mole of atom of the element. Consider the symbol of the element hydrogen H: It represents hydrogen as an element and it represents one atom of the element hydrogen. It represents one mole of hydrogen atoms and 2gms of hydrogen.

Verified answer

Symbol :

• The abbreviations used for the lengthy names of elements are called symbols.
• The credit for introducing the symbol of elements goes to Jons Jacob Berzelius (1815), a Swedish chemist who used letters as symbols for elements.
• He suggested to use the first letter of the name of the element as its symbol.
• For example, hydrogen is represented by (H) and oxygen by (O).
• In certain cases, the elements are represented by some prominent letter of their Latin or German names.
• For example, potassium is represented by (K) derived from its Latin name Kalium.

Significance of a symbol :

• It appears as if the symbol is a shorthand representation of an element.
• However, a symbol of an element is not merely an abbreviation.
• For chemists, it has both qualitative and quantitative meanings.

Qualitative meaning :

• A symbol represents the name of an element.
• For example, 'C' represents the element carbon.
• A symbol represents one atom of an element.
• For example, 'C' represents one atom of carbon.

Quantitative meaning :

• A symbol represents one gram atom of an element.
• For example, 'C' represents 12 g of carbon.
• A symbol represents the number of parts by weight of an element.
• For example, 'C' represents 12 parts by weight of carbon.
• A symbol represents 6.023 × 10²³ atoms of the element.
• For example, represents 6.023 × 10²³ atoms of carbon[tex].[/tex]