Question

When 1 carbon atom combines with 2 oxygen atoms, the resulting substance is called a(n) .

A. The chemical symbol is always a single letter.
B. The chemical symbol always starts with the same letter as the name of the element.
C. The chemical symbol always begins with a capital letter.
D. The chemical symbol can be shared by more than one element.

Answer 1

When one carbon atom combines with two oxygen atoms, the compound formed is carbon dioxide with the chemical formula CO₂. Chemical symbols for elements consist of one or two letters, with the first letter capitalized and the second letter, if present, in lowercase.

Step-by-step explanation:

Combination of Carbon Atom with Oxygen Atoms

When 1 carbon atom combines with 2 oxygen atoms, the resulting compound is called carbon dioxide, and its chemical formula is CO₂. In chemistry, the naming convention for molecular compounds involves using prefixes to indicate the number of atoms present. Since there is only one carbon atom, the prefix 'mono-' is commonly left out, thus we just call it carbon dioxide instead of carbon monoxide for the compound CO. The chemical symbols for elements follow certain rules where each element is represented by a one- or two-letter symbol with the first letter always capitalized.

Chemical symbols represent elements and are written with a capital letter. If needed, a second lowercase letter is added to distinguish between elements. For example, the symbol 'C' stands for carbon, 'O' for oxygen, and 'Fe' for iron, derived from the Latin name Ferrum. It is important to note that a chemical symbol can never be shared by more than one element.