Symbols
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When writing names of elements, a chemist usually
uses abbreviations, since they are quicker to write than the names.
The abbreviations that we use are called symbols. None of the symbols
contain more than two letters; the first one is always capatilized and
the second, if any, is always lower case. Of course there are some
exceptions such as Hydrogen (H),
Carbon (C), Oxygen (O), etc. Some examples of two
letter symbols can be seen on the Periodic
Table.
Don't forget that the second letter of the symbol is never
capatalized. If it is, then it represents a
molecule, for example
CO represents a molecule of Carbon Monoxide.
The symbols for all known elements
are given in the Periodic Table.
