Chemical Symbols Show the atoms of the elements composing the substance Written with 1, 2, or 3 letters First letter = ALWAYS CAPITALIZED The rest are lowercase Each element has a different symbol

Elements are made up of ONE kind of atom Compounds are made up of MORE THAN ONE element & their formulas have more than one type of symbol

Chemical Formulas Constructed from the symbols of the elements composing the substances Subscripts Show how many of each kind of atom are in a compound Written to the lower right of the element symbol If no subscript is written, only one atom of that element is part of the compound

Compounds to Memorize NaCl – salt H2O – water O2 – oxygen gas CO2 – carbon dioxide N2 – nitrogen gas C6H12O6 – simple sugar (glucose)