Question

What is the significance of the symbol of an element ? Explain with the help of an example.

Answer 1

The symbol of an element is a short form used to represent individual elements or the atoms of the elements. Using symbols is advantageous, as using full names of the elements can be tedious. Symbols are commonly used to designate elements in a chemical reaction. Following are the significant points of using a symbol to designate an element:

• Symbol represents the name of the element. For example, the symbol O refers to the element oxygen.
Symbol represents one atom of the element. For example, the symbol O denotes one atom of the element oxygen.

• Using the symbol of an element refers to one mole of atoms of that element; therefore, the symbol of an element represents 6.022 × 10²³ atoms. For example, the symbol O represents one mole of oxygen  i.e. 6.022 × 10²³ atoms.

• Symbols of different elements represent a definite mass of those elements which is equal to gram atomic mass. For example, the symbol O refers to 1 gram atomic mass of oxygen.