The Language of Chemistry

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An element is a simple and pure form of matter which cannot be decomposed into simpler substances. Example: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen.

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Symbols are short forms for elements. They represent the name of the element, one atom of the element, and the quantity of the element equal in mass to its atomic mass or gram atomic mass. Example: N …

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Co means the element cobalt. CO means the compound carbon monoxide. Capital letters matter in chemistry because changing case changes meaning completely.

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He suggested that the initial letter of an element written in capitals should represent that element, such as O for oxygen, H for hydrogen, and C for carbon. This method laid the basis of the IUPAC sy…

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Valency is the combining capacity of an atom or of a radical. It is the number of hydrogen atoms, or double the number of oxygen atoms, that can combine with it. Example: oxygen has valency 2.

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Since no other element has combining capacity less than that of hydrogen, its valency is taken to be one (1) and is used as a standard.

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Variable valency is the ability of an element to show more than one valency. Example: iron shows valency 2 and 3; copper shows valency 1 and 2; sulphur shows valencies 2, 4 and 6.

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The lower valency takes the suffix ous and the higher valency takes the suffix ic. Example: Fe2+ is ferrous and Fe3+ is ferric; Sn2+ is stannous and Sn4+ is stannic.