SS1 Chemistry Lesson Note on Elements and their Symbols

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Elements And Their Symbols

An element is a substance that cannot be broken into simpler substances by any chemical methods. Examples of elements include: Iron, tin, aluminum etc.

There are about 118 known elements of which 92 are naturally exiting elements and the rest are artificially made.

Symbols are modern ways of representing atoms of elements by using abbreviations. The modern symbols were developed by Berzelius in 1814.

First, He used the first letter in the name of the element.

Examples

  ELEMENT                                                              SYMBOL

Hydrogen                                                                 H

Boron                                                                       B

Carbon                                                                     C

Nitrogen                                                                   N

Oxygen                                                                    O

Fluorine                                                                   F

Phosphorus                                                              P

Sulphur                                                                    S

Iodine                                                                        I

The second principle uses the first two letters.

Examples:

ELEMENTS                                            SYMBOL

Helium                                                      He

Lithium                                                     Li

Beryllium                                                 Be

Neon                                                         Ne

Aluminum                                                Al

Silicon                                                      Si

Argon                                                        Ar

Calcium                                                    Ca

Bromine                                                    Br

Barium                                                      Ba

The third principle is when the first letter and another letter in the name are used.

Example:

ELEMENTS                                            SYMBOL

Magnesium                                               Mg

Chlorine                                                    Cl

Chromium                                                Cr

Manganese                                                Mn

Zinc                                                           Zn

The fourth principle is the elements that derived symbols from their Latin names.

Example:

ELEMENT                          LATIN NAME                   SYMBOL

Sodium                                 Natrium                               Na

Potassium                             Kalium                                K

Iron                                       Ferrum                                Fe

Copper                                  Cuprum                               Cu

Silver                                    Argentum                            Ag

Tin                                        Stannum                              Sn

Gold                                      Aurum                                 Au

Mercury                                Hydrargyrum                      Hg

Lead                                      Plumbum                             Pb

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