Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Chemical symbols are the abbreviations used in chemistry, mainly for chemical elements; but also for functional groups, chemical compounds, and other entities. Element symbols for chemical elements, also known as atomic symbols , normally consist of one or two letters from the Latin alphabet and are written with the first letter capitalised.
A chemical element, often simply called an element, is a type of atom which has a specific number of protons in its atomic nucleus (i.e., a specific atomic number, or Z). [ 1 ] The definitive visualisation of all 118 elements is the periodic table of the elements , whose history along the principles of the periodic law was one of the founding ...
The chemical elements are what the periodic table classifies and organizes. Hydrogen is the element with atomic number 1; helium, atomic number 2; lithium, atomic number 3; and so on. Each of these names can be further abbreviated by a one- or two-letter chemical symbol; those for hydrogen, helium, and lithium are respectively H, He, and Li. [6]
Although notation was partly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists. Lüdy-Tenger [1] published an inventory of 3,695 symbols and variants, and that was not exhaustive, omitting for example many of the symbols used by Isaac Newton. This page therefore lists only the most common symbols.
The symbol is not followed by a full-stop. Examples: H He C Ca. Attached subscripts or superscripts specifying a nucleotide or molecule have the following meanings and positions: The nucleon number (mass number) is shown in the left superscript position (e.g., 14 N) The number of atoms of a nucleotide is shown in the right subscript position (e ...
The first letter is always capitalized. While the symbol is often a contraction of the element's name, it may sometimes not match the element's English name; for example, "Pb" for lead (from Latin plumbum) or "W" for tungsten (from German Wolfram). Elements which have only temporary systematic names are given temporary three-letter symbols (e.g ...
Hazard symbols; List of mathematical constants (typically letters and compound symbols) Glossary of mathematical symbols; List of physical constants (typically letters and compound symbols) List of common physics notations (typically letters used as variable names in equations) Rod of Asclepius / Caduceus as a symbol of medicine
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. ( January 2011 ) Latin and Greek letters are used in mathematics , science , engineering , and other areas where mathematical notation is used as symbols for constants , special functions , and also conventionally for variables representing certain quantities.