Question

Why are symbols and formulae of substances important?

Answer 1

Symbols are the abbreviations that are used to denote chemical elements. The importance of symbols are:

1. Symbols are useful to write a chemical formula of any compound in short form.
2. Symbols of an element are generally used to represent elements in a chemical reaction in short form which helps in saving time.

A formula is the short representation of the molecule of an element or a compound. The importance of formulae are:

1. It gives the type of elements present in the compound.
2. Gives the number of each kind of atom in one molecule.
3. Mass of one molecule of the compound.
4. Ratio of different types of atoms present in a molecule.