Why do some chemical symbols have one letter and some have two or three letters?
2007-03-23 18:02:41 · 7 answers · asked by James D 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
the symbol of an element is derived from its name or the latin name (in case of metals). There are 26 letters in the alphabet and over 100 elements to find symbols for. the symbol usual take the intial letter of the name of the element but many elements begin with the same letter, so to avoid confusion another letter from the name of the lement is used.
2007-03-23 18:13:40 · answer #1 · answered by brisko389 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you take a look at the periodic table, you'll see that there are no chemical symbols with 3 letters. I'm not sure who "decides" the symbols for each element, but they are abbreviated in the way that distinguishes them from any other element. Some elements' names are distinct enough to have only 1 letter in the symbol, whereas 2 or more elements that sound similar need to have 2 letters to differentiate between them.
Examples:
H- Hydrogen
C- Carbon
O- Oxygen
Mg- Magnesium
Mn-Manganese
Se-Selenium
Sr-Strontium
2007-03-23 18:09:45 · answer #2 · answered by kduong 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some have 2 because there are only 26 letters in the alphabet & 111 anmed elements. Those with 1 letter symbols are mostly those discovered 1st. for example Carbon was 1 of the 1st recognized & is C. Chromium (Cr), Cobalt (Co) & Cesium (Cs) were discovered later. Those with 3 letters are nos 112 & higher that haven't been given real names yet.
2007-03-23 18:21:24 · answer #3 · answered by yupchagee 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
None with 3 letters.
There may be a number of elements beginning with the same letter, like Caesium, Cobalt, Copper and carbon etc.
As they can't all have the symbol 'C', ..
C became Carbon, Caesium = Cs, (because Calcium is Ca),
Copper = Cu (From the Latin 'Cuprum'), Cobalt = Co, ..etc..
Others also take their symbol from the Latin .. e.g. Sodium is 'Na' from Natrium.
Was this any help ?
2007-03-23 19:01:53 · answer #4 · answered by Norrie 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the letters are only used to identify the elements so every scientist in the world can relate to it and, well, identify it. when an element is discovered early, it just use their first letter of the word, if it is discovered later, it will use another letter OR add the second letter of the world to the initial.
2007-03-23 18:19:28 · answer #5 · answered by chaos knight 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To distinguish them from all the other elements. plus, some elements abbreviations arent named after the english element name. some are abbreviated after a certain element in a different language
2007-03-23 18:12:43 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
becase it is the convention followed by the chemists
who has given the name......it is approved by scientists
2007-03-23 19:17:19 · answer #7 · answered by santhosh 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋