Atomic Structure

An element is made up of only one kind of atoms. Copper is an example of an element. An element cannot be broken down into simpler substances by any chemical reaction.

A compound is formed when different elements combine chemically in a fixed proportion. Water is a compound made up from hydrogen and oxygen.

Scientists have discovered 92 elements in nature. Elements are arranged in a table called periodic table. The periodic table contains a total of 118 elements. Hydrogen (1) is the first and Oganesson (118) is the last element. The first 92 elements (after Uranium (92)) listed in the periodic table occur naturally while the rest can only be found in nuclear accelerators and laboratories.

A Swedish scientist Jöns Jacob  Berzelius assigned symbols to elements. He took first one or two letters of the element’s name. Symbols are derived from their English names or from the names of elements in different languages such as Latin and Greek.

A symbol is an abbreviated name of an element. For example, N is the symbol for Nitrogen. Hg is the symbol of mercury whose Greek name is Hydrargyrum.