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There are only 26 letters in the English alphabet but more than 100 distinct elements. Therefore, at least 3/4 of the elements must have atomic symbols with more than one letter.

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Why do some symbols have one letter some have two letters and some have three letters?

Elements are give symbols consisting of letters, and these are related to the names of the elements (in some language at some date). There are 26 letters in many alphabets, but more than four times that number of elements. So it is necessary to use some mechanism to distinguish among elements with names that start with the same letter. Adding numbers is done to designate the number of atoms in a compound, the isotope, and so on. The best solutions is to use pairs of letters for most elements.


What are the chemical symbols on the periodic table?

It's easier to navigate the periodic table and write chemical equations and formulae once you know the symbols for the elements. However, sometimes it's easy to confuse symbols of elements with similar names. Other elements have symbols that don't seem to relate to their names at all! For these elements, the symbol usually refers to an older element name that isn't used any more. Here's an alphabetical list of element symbols with the corresponding element name. Keep in mind that the names for the elements (and their symbols) may be different in languages other than English.


Why must some chemical elements have two letters rather than one?

The reason why some element symbols have two letters instead of one is that some elements start with the same letter. It would be very difficult to distinguish elements if two both had the same symbol. For example, Carbon and Calcium both start with the letter "C", but Calcium's symbol is "Ca". Also, some, like Iron's "Fe", were named a long time ago, and chemists had different names for them.


Why do scientist prefer to use chemical symbols of elements instead of their names when they refer to elements?

Because it is more simple to write one or two letters than a word and also these symbols are valid in all languages.


What is true about the First letter of a chemical symbol?

Not always... There are chemical elements beginning with the same letter - for example Copper and Cobalt. However - every chemical symbol does consist of two letters.

Related Questions

Why do some symbols have one letter some have two letters and some have three letters?

Elements are give symbols consisting of letters, and these are related to the names of the elements (in some language at some date). There are 26 letters in many alphabets, but more than four times that number of elements. So it is necessary to use some mechanism to distinguish among elements with names that start with the same letter. Adding numbers is done to designate the number of atoms in a compound, the isotope, and so on. The best solutions is to use pairs of letters for most elements.


Why do some elements have a number and some have symbols?

A way to know what this means is to know that the reason being is because it is a Isotope. An istotope is something that has too many nuetrons or more than one nuetron. So that is what they call it...


Symbols means 'greater than'?

> is the symbol for more than or greater than


What is a inequality symbols?

They are: > means greater than and < means less than


How do i use 'less than' and 'more than' using keyboard symbols?

Examples: Less than: 3 < 5 More than: 7 > 5


What is three more than twice a number into symbols?

2x + 3


What are the hieroglyphs?

There are more than 700 common hieroglyphics, including three sets of phonetic symbols and hundreds of concept symbols.


What are the basic hieroglyphics?

There are more than 700 common hieroglyphics, including three sets of phonetic symbols and hundreds of concept symbols.


What is the symbols of 5 more than 58 is 63?

It is: 58+5 = 63


What are the similiarities of all the symbols on the periodic table of elements?

In the case of symbols, the first letter will be capitalized. Other that than there is no general similarity and each element has different symbol.


How many hieroglyphics are there in ancient Egypt?

There were more than a thousand hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt because it was their language


What is the largest that can be written with four roman numeral symbols?

Some say, MMMD, because they argue you can not use more than three roman numerals in a row (thus negating the use of MMMM). However, you can increase the value of the number by 1,000 times by adding a bar over the letter, so MMM, with a bar over the first letter would be the largest number using four symbols. Thus MMM with a horizontal bar over the first letter would be 1,000,200.