Rules for writing the symbol of an element and chemical formula

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Rules to be followed to write the symbol of an element:

1. If an element has a single English letter as a symbol, it should be written in the upper case.

Example:

H - Hydrogen
B - Boron

2. If an element has a two-letter symbol, the first letter should be written in the upper case and the second letter in the lower case.

Example:

Ca - Calcium
Ni - Nickle

Therefore, the symbol of an element signifies,

Name of the element.
One atom of the element.

Example:

The symbol "O" refers to the element of oxygen, i.e., one atom of oxygen.

Rules to be followed to write chemical formula:

1. The charges (

$+$ ,

$-$ ) or valency (free electrons) on the ion must be balanced.

Ions must be balanced.

2. While writing a compound of metals and non-metal, the symbol of metal should be written first (left side) and followed by the non-metal compound (right side).

Example:

$NaCl$: Here, Sodium

$Na$ is a metal so that should be written on the left side, and chlorine

$Cl$ is a non-metal that should be written on the right side.

3. Ions should be enclosed in a bracket before writing the number to indicate the ratio.

So now, we will see how to write a chemical formula with some examples to understand it clearly in the next topic.

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3. Rules for writing the symbol of an element and chemical formula

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