Question

Give reasons:

(a) Elements are denoted by symbols.
(b) Symbols for some elements are derived from the Latin names.​

Answer 1

Answer:

(a). Scientists standardized the short-hand way we represent elements, by their chemical symbol. One of the main reasons this was developed was because using letters was the easiest way to represent the elements. Another reason that we use chemical symbols is to allow us to write chemical formulas easily.

(b). Many of the elements have been know since ancient times. Back then the language of “science” (though it was more often alchemy) was Latin. So the symbols that we still use are based on contractions of the original Latin names.

Answer 2

Explanation:

b) Element | symbol | Latin name

1) copper | cu | cuprum

2) gold | Au | Aurum

3) Iron | Fe | Ferrum

4) Lead | pb | plumbum