Page 14 - Chemistry ICSE Class IX
P. 14
1 The Language of
Chemistry
Atomic Symbols
CONTENTS
Communication is very important in every walk of life. This is of much
ͻ ƚŽŵŝĐ ƐLJŵďŽůƐ signi cance in the eld of science because every scientist would like to
ͻ sĂůĞŶĐĞ ĞůĞĐƚƌŽŶƐ share his ndings with other fellow scientists.
ͻ sĂůĞŶĐLJ Alchemists (also called ſTG RJKNQUQRJGTU) used strange symbols and
ͻ ZĂĚŝĐĂůƐ pu ling signs to record their ndings. The motive behind this was to keep
ͻ DŽůĞĐƵůĞ ĂŶĚ ŵŽůĞĐƵůĂƌ ĨŽƌŵƵůĂ
ͻ tƌŝƟŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŵŽůĞĐƵůĂƌ ĨŽƌŵƵůĂĞ ŽĨ their knowledge secret from others. Most of the symbols used by them were
ŵŽůĞĐƵůĂƌ ĐŽŵƉŽƵŶĚƐ of O[VJQNQIKECN QTKIKP. Some of the typical symbols used by the alchemists
ͻ tƌŝƟŶŐ ƚŚĞ ĨŽƌŵƵůĂĞ ŽĨ ŝŽŶŝĐ are shown in Table 1.1. To make things worse, the alchemists were not
ĐŽŵƉŽƵŶĚƐ agreed among themselves on the choice of many symbols.
ͻ ŚĞŵŝĐĂů ĞƋƵĂƟŽŶ Table 1.1 Alchemist’s symbols
ͻ ĂůĂŶĐŝŶŐ ŽĨ ĐŚĞŵŝĐĂů ĞƋƵĂƟŽŶƐ
ͻ ƚŽŵŝĐ ŵĂƐƐ ĂŶĚ ƌĞůĂƟǀĞ ĂƚŽŵŝĐ Substance Symbol Substance Symbol Substance Symbol
ŵĂƐƐ Copper Ƃ Mercury Ƃ Sulphur '
ͻ DŽůĞĐƵůĂƌ ŵĂƐƐ ĂŶĚ ƌĞůĂƟǀĞ
ŵŽůĞĐƵůĂƌ ŵĂƐƐ Gold { Silver Water
ͻ ŽŵƉŽƐŝƟŽŶ ŽĨ Ă ĐŽŵƉŽƵŶĚ
Iron ƃ Tin Earth
What are Dalton’s symbols
John Dalton used the symbolic notation of circles to represent the atoms
of various elements. The atoms of different elements were differentiated
by different markings on these circles. The compound atoms (later called
OQNGEWNGU) were denoted by a group of these circles.
Some of the symbols used by Dalton are shown in Table 1.2.
Table 1.2 Dalton’s symbols
Substance Symbol Substance Symbol Substance Symbol Substance Symbol
Hydrogen : Copper c Carbon Water . .
Oxygen { Zinc z Sulphur + Carbon dioxide
Nitrogen Mercury Lead L Hydrogen disulphide . + .
What are the Berzelius atomic symbols
The rst universally acceptable system of atomic symbols was introduced
by the Swedish chemist J. J. Berzelius.
While proposing the system of atomic symbols, he suggested,
“+V KU GCUKGT VQ YTKVG CP CDDTGXKCVGF YQTF VJCP VQ FTCY C ſIWTG 6JG EJGOKECN
UKIPU QWIJV VQ DG NGVVGTU HQT VJG ITGCVGT HCEKNKV[ QH YTKVKPI.”
He further said,
“+ UJCNN VJGTGHQTG VCMG HQT VJG EJGOKECN UKIP VJG KPKVKCN NGVVGT QH VJG %QOOQP
.CVKP QT )TGGM PCOG QH GCEJ EJGOKECN GNGOGPV.”
Thus, the element carbon was assigned the symbol C, hydrogen H,
oxygen O, nitrogen N, phosphorus P, sulphur S and so on...
