Chemical element notation
Last revised by Daniel J Bell ◉ on 23 Dec 2019
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Bell D, Chemical element notation. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 23 Sep 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-68259
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rID:
68259
Article created:
21 May 2019, Daniel J Bell ◉
Disclosures:
At the time the article was created Daniel J Bell had no recorded disclosures.
View Daniel J Bell's current disclosuresLast revised:
23 Dec 2019, Daniel J Bell ◉
Disclosures:
At the time the article was last revised Daniel J Bell had no recorded disclosures.
View Daniel J Bell's current disclosuresRevisions:
7 times, by 1 contributor - see full revision history and disclosures
Sections:
Synonyms:
- Elements (notation)
The notation of the 118 known chemical elements is prescribed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) 1.
Each chemical element has a long name and a symbol. In English the long name is only capitalized as part of title or sentence case. Chemical element names are not proper nouns and therefore are otherwise always in lowercase.
Symbols are either one or two letters (e.g. F, Xe, U etc.):
- the initial letter is always capitalized
- if there is a second letter it is always in lowercase
Correct usages:
- Carbon's atomic number is 6 which means it has 6 protons in each of its atoms.
- The fluorine atom used in PET imaging is a radioisotope with a mass number of 18.
See also
References
- 1. “Nomenclature - IUPAC | International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.” IUPAC, 2019, iupac.org/what-we-do/nomenclature/ [accessed 21st May 2019].
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