School
of Nursing and Academic Division of Midwifery
RLO: Structure of the Atom
Symbols
Now, let’s look at how all of this information regarding atomic structure is written down. By convention, information about the atom is given using a standard formula. Each type of atom has an internationally recognised symbol and these are stored together in a table known as the periodic table. You can see this here. For example for carbon the letter C is used, for calcium Ca is used and for iron Fe, as in ferrous - meaning iron-like is the recognised symbol. Do you recognise any other chemicals by their symbol?
