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Apart from symbols taken from their ancient names (like Ag for Silver - from Argentum, and K for potassium from Kalium) almost all other symbols are taken from the element's name - the first letter and, where necessary, another letter too - usually the next one. So C is Carbon, but when Calcium was discovered, it could not be give the symbol C as well, so it was given the symbol Ca. In the same way Hydrogen has the symbol H, but Helium cannot be given the symbol H too, so it has the symbol He, being the first two letters of its name. If there are two elements with the same two first letters (like magnesium and manganese) then another two letters are chosen instead - in this case the first and third letters rather than the first two - making the symbol of magnesium Mg, and that of manganese Mn. Similarly, for neon, N is the symbol for Nitrogen, and so Ne was chosen for Neon, being the first two letters of the name.

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16y ago

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