CHEMICAL SYMBOLS AND FORMULAS

THE ORIGIN OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS

Where the chemical symbols come from?
The names of some elements are very ancient. The name copper derives from
Cyprus, where the element was once mined while the name gold derives from the old
English word meaning “yellow”. Some names describe a characteristic property.
Chlorine, for instance, is a yellow-green gas, and its name in Greek means “yellow-
green”. Vanadium, which forms attractively colored compounds, is named after
Vanadis, the Scandinavian goddess of beauty. Others are named in honour of scientists
who made important discoveries in the field of Chemistry such as Curium named after
Marie Curie. She worked on the field of radioactivity. Some are named for the place
they where first discovered; americium, europium and californium are some examples
of elements named for the place where it were first observed.
Symbols are taken from the element‟s name in Latin, German or Greek. For example,
ferrum is the Latin name for iron, a metal symbolized by Fe.
As of this date, officially there are 119 known elements. Each element has a symbol, one
or two letters that represent the element much as your initials represent you. In a fact, the
symbol is an abbreviation for an element name (it is easier to write "H" instead
"hydrogen"). Because only 26 letters in the alphabet and over 100 elements are there,
combinations of letters had to be used in order to give each element its own unique
symbol. Other elemental symbols, like sodium with the symbol "Na", will be a bit harder to
commit to memory. Unfortunately for us, some symbols (like Na) are derived from the Latin
name for the element.
REMEMBER: Chemists have a useful system that saves writing out the full names of
the elements. Each element is presented by a chemical symbol having one or two
letters.
Potassium, K Carbon, C Nitrogen, N Oxygen, O Sulphur, S
Helium, He Aluminium, Al Tin, Sn Lead, Pb Silicon, Si
Notice that the first letter of a symbol is always uppercase and the second is always
lowercase (for example, He, not HE). Some elements have symbols formed from the first
letter of the name and a later letter:
Magnesium, Mg Chlorine, Cl Manganese, Mn Plutonium Pu

What chemical symbols are used for?

Chemical symbols are used to
 Symbolize the name of the element by abbreviation; E.g. Na for Sodium
 Indicate the number of moles of that element; i.e. Na shows 1 mole of
sodium while 3Na means that we have 3 moles of sodium;
 Signify one (or more) atom/s of that element; E.g. Na presents one atom of
sodium or 4Na indicates four atoms of sodium etc.
 SUMMARY

 International sign
for mercury (Latin Chemical
One atom
name-Hidrargium) symbol of mercury
 1mole of mercury Hg

CHEMICAL FORMULAS
When you see a molecule or compound described in a textbook or as part of a
chemical reaction, it is usually in the form of a chemical formula. These
combinations of letters and numbers – such as H2O – can be challenging to
understand if you don‟t know what the individual parts mean. If you‟re learning
chemistry or reading about different chemicals, you need to know what chemical
formulas mean and how you interpret them. You can easily pick up the basics and
read a chemical formula. Chemical formulas provide a lot of information about
chemical substances, such as how many and what atoms they are made of, as well
as the way the atoms are arranged. In this lesson, we'll discuss the different types
of chemical formulas.
A chemical formula is a combination of elemental symbol and subscript
numbers that is used to show the composition of a compound.
Before you get to know the formulas, it is important to make differences among
molecular and ionic substances.
Molecular substances. Substances made of molecules as basic building units
are molecular substances, which can be either simple (elemental) substances
(E.g. O2, P4, S8) or compounds (E.g. H2SO4, CO2, HCl). Both types consist of
atoms of non-metal element/s that are held together by covalent bonds. This type
of formula is called molecular. Molecular formula gives the exact number of
atoms of each element within a molecule (the smallest unit of the substance).
This formula shows molecules as they actually exist as distinct units in nature.
Example 1. Molecular formula of sulphur is S8. It is a crown shaped molecule which
has eight sulphur atoms bonded together in a circle. The formula S8 represents this
elemental substance exactly as it actually exists.
Example 2. Carbon dioxide, CO2, is also a molecular compound made of two kinds
of atoms; two atoms of oxygen bonded to the carbon atom by covalent bonds.
Example 3. Sulphuric acid, H2SO4, consists of atoms of three non-metal elements;
hydrogen, sulphur and oxygen. Both, sulphur and oxygen form a polyatomic SO42
group, so that we can think that this molecular substance is made of hydrogen and
polyatomic sulphate group. Similar, many acids are composed of hydrogen and a
polyatomic group (HNO3, H2CO3, H3PO4...).
Ionic substances. Substances in which basic building units are ions are
ionic substances. The ions in them are held together by electrostatic forces. Ionic
substances are compounds formed by typical metal and typical non-metal. If the
ionic compound is binary compound (two elements only), then it consists
of positive ions of metal and negative ions of non-metal.
Example 1. MgO, FeS, CuCl2… are examples of binary ionic compounds. The first
element is always metal! Mg2+, Fe3+, Cu2+.....etc.
Example 2. K3PO3 and Mg(NO3)2 are ternary ionic compounds (ternary means
three elements). In this case the first element is ion of a metal (K+ and Mg2+) but the
second part associated to the metal is a polyatomic group (PO43 and NO3). In so
called ammonium compounds a positive ammonium group (NH4+) appears instead
ion of metal.
When talking about ionic formulas it is very important to remember that the
formula does not show how the compound exists in nature. It shows the ratio
by which the individual ions combine. The ions pair is called “formula unit”. MgO,
MgSO4 and all above mentioned ionic compounds are crystals, represented by the
formula unit. Formula unit is not a individual entity that really exist, but it„s taken to
be a unit. A formula unit is the symbolic representation of an ionic compound
(or network solid).
Example. The ionic compound, calcium chloride, has the formula CaCl2. Hence, this
formula doesn‟t mean that there are two chlorine atoms floating around attached to
one calcium atom. The formula shows that a sample of calcium chloride contains
twice as many chlorine ions as calcium ion. So, the inscription CaCl2 represents a
formula unit of calcium chloride.

What are chemical formulas used (stand) for?

Chemical formula is used to
 symbolize the name of molecular simple substance or compound;
E.g. P4 symbolizes the simple substance phosphorus
P4O6 symbolizes the compound tetraphosphorus hexaoxide
Cu(NO3)2 symbolizes the name copper(II) nitrate.
 indicate the number of moles of either simple substance or compound;
Examples: 2O2 indicates 2 moles of gaseous oxygen
CuCl2 indicates 1 mole of copper(II) chloride
5Al2(SO4)3 indicates 5 moles of aluminium sulphate
 show the mole ratio of the elements in the compound;
E.g. The mole and the elements ratio in aluminium oxide, Al2O3 is 2 : 3.
 present the basic unit i.e. building particle of which the compound or
simple substance is made up (molecule or formula unit);
 determine the atoms (ions) ratio in the molecule or formula unit
 SUMMARY

 International
sign for the simple
The meaning of the
One molecule of
substance bromine. chemical
bromine
formula
 1mole of bromine (diatomic molecule)
Br2

 International sign for the  The same formula is

compound water i.e. substitutes used to present the
the compound's name. smallest fundamental
particle (unit) - a molecule
This formula gives us valuable
of water;
qualitative and quantitative
information about the substance It gives us also valuable
Chemical qualitative and
composition;
formula quantitative information
 Water consists of two
elements - hydrogen and oxygen
H2O about the composition of
this molecule;
(qualitative composition)
 two kinds of atoms -
 1mole of water (quantitative hydrogen and oxygen
composition) (qualitative composition)
 the mole ratio of the elements  there is one molecule of
is 2:1 which means in a mole of water
water there are always two  the atoms ratio is 2 : 1
moles of hydrogen and one mole i.e. in the molecule of
of oxygen which expresses the water there are always
quantitative composition. two atoms of hydrogen
and one atom of oxygen
(quantitative composition)
 International sign for the  This formula signifies a
compound sodium chloride. formula unit (pair of ions)
This formula give us valuable of sodium chloride.
qualitative and quantitative It also give us valuable
information about the qualitative and quantitative
substance’s composition; information about the
Chemical composition of this formula
 Symbols Na and Cl present unit;
the elements; sodium and formula
 a formula unit of NaCl
chlorine (qualitative NaCl consists of two types of
composition)
ions; sodium (+) ion and
 1mole of sodium chloride chloride (-) ion (qualitative
(quantitative composition) composition)
 the mole ratio of the  the ratio between ions is
elements is 1 : 1 (quantitative 1:1 (quantitative
information) composition)

TYPES of CHEMICAL FORMULAS

Both, molecular and ionic substances can
be presented by variuous types of
chemical formulas.
 molecular formulas
 empirical formulas
 structural formulas
 Lewis formulas etc.

Molecular formulas
We have already discussed about molecular formulas in the previous section.
Empirical formulas
A special type of chemical formula known as empirical formulas, shows the
composition of a molecule or formula unit not as actually exists, but in a
simple whole-number ratio of the elements. Both, molecular and ionic
compounds have empirical formulas. If the subscripts ratio in a molecular formula
is the smallest whole-number ratio of the elements, than molecular and empirical
formulas are the same. E.g. Propane is a molecular substance represented by the
molecular formula C3H8. The element‟s ratio in this compound is 3 : 8, which is the
smallest one, so that the empirical formula is C3H8 too. H2O is molecular but
empirical as well because the smallest ratio of the elements is 2 : 1. But, the
element‟s ratio in benzene is 6 : 6, hence the molecular formula of this compound is
C6H6 while the empirical is CH, because the smallest mole (number) ratio 1 : 1.
Versus molecular, ionic compounds have empirical formulas only. For instance;
Na2O and CuSO4 are both empirical formulas because these compounds are
composed from ions as the main existing entities and the ratio between ions is
already the smallest ones; 2 : 1 and 1 : 1 respectively.
Structural formulas
A structural formula shows arrangement of atoms within a molecule (shows how
atoms are connected to other atoms), the order and the type of the bonds. Only
molecular (covalently bonded) substances are represented by this type of formulas.
Down here are presented the structural formulas of ammonia (NH3), carbon dioxide
and methane (CH4).

ZAKLU^OK: [to poka`uva formulata na edna supstanca?

Internacionalna oznaka za hemiska Ozna~uva edinka

imeto na edna supstanca. - molekul ili formulna
So formuli se ozna~uvaat formula edinka.
prostite supstanci i AxBy Va`no da se znae:
soedinenijata. Hemiskite Formulnata edinka e po
simboli A i B vo dogovor zemena kako
formulata gi ozna~uvaat definirana edinka koja
hemiskite elementi. iako soodvetstvuva na
Indeksite "x" i "y" go Dava informacija sostavot na supstancata
poka`uvaat odnosot na za s o s t a v o t ne mo`e da se smeta za
koli~es-tvata na na supstancata vistinska edinka.
elementite ili grupite od (kvalitativen i
koi supstancata e kvantitativen) ili
obrazuvana. edinkata od koj
taa e obrazuvana.

Exercises:
1. How many atoms of each type are found in the following formulas?
a) K2S b) Na2CO3 c) K4Fe(CN)6 d) (NH4)3PO4 e) Na3Ag(S2O3)2

2. What is the number of atoms of each element in KAl(SO 4)2 12H2O?

3. Which of these pure substances are molecular (m.s.)?

H2S ____ KNO3 ____ F2 ____ Mg(OH)2 ____ H3PO3 ____
4. What is the empirical formula for each of the following?
a) (NH4)2S2O8 b) C3H8O3 c) Fe2O3 d) C6H12O6
e) Al2Cl6 f) Hg2SO4 g) C6H6 h) C2H2