Crack the Chemical Code
Learn symbols from English and Latin names
What this lesson covers
Why it matters
Aluminium's symbol 'Al' reads straight off its name, but iron insists on 'Fe' and sodium on 'Na'. Some symbols speak English; others still speak Latin.
Predict first
Why is the symbol for iron 'Fe' instead of 'Ir'?
Most symbols are the first letter(s) of the English name. But several metals keep symbols from their Latin names — ferrum (Fe), natrium (Na), kalium (K), plumbum (Pb), cuprum (Cu).
- 'Fe' comes from its old Latin name, ferrum — correct
- 'Ir' was already taken by another element
- It is a printing tradition with no reason
What you do
Sort each element: does its symbol come from its Latin name, or its English name?
Check yourself
Which element's symbol comes from its Latin name?
K comes from kalium; calcium and carbon take their symbols from their English names.
The first letter of a symbol is always written…
Symbols are one capital letter, optionally followed by one small letter — e.g. Na, not NA.
- Potassium (K, from kalium) — correct
- Calcium (Ca)
- Carbon (C)
- as a capital, with any second letter in lower case — correct
- in lower case
- as two capitals