Language of Chemistry

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A symbol is the short hand representation for the atom of a specific element. Each chemical element has its own unique symbol. Example: H for hydrogen, O for oxygen.

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In the 19th century, a Swedish chemist John Jacob Berzelius systematically assigned the first letter of the name of an element, in capital as the symbol for that element. This later became the basis o…

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When more than one element starts with the same letter, two letters are used. The first letter is capital and the second letter is small. Examples: Carbon = C, Cobalt = Co, Calcium = Ca, Chlorine = Cl…

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Valency is the combining capacity of an atom of an element or of a radical with the atoms of other elements or radicals to form molecules. It is the number of hydrogen atoms that can combine with or d…

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The valency of hydrogen is taken as 1. This helps compare the combining capacity of other elements easily. For example, chlorine has valency 1 in HCl, oxygen has valency 2 in H2O, nitrogen has valency…

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In HCl, one atom of chlorine combines with one atom of hydrogen, so the valency of chlorine is 1.

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In water, oxygen has valency 2. In ammonia, nitrogen has valency 3. In methane, carbon has valency 4.

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Helium, neon, and argon have zero valency because they are inert gases and their outermost shell is complete.