While elements are represented by chemical symbols, chemical formulas represent what?
solutions
extracts
pollutants
compounds
Elements are represented by chemical symbols. Examples are H for hydrogen and O for oxygen. Compounds are represented by chemical formulas . You’ve already seen the chemical formula for water. It’s H 2 O. The subscript 2 after the H shows that there are two atoms of hydrogen in a molecule of water. The O for oxygen has no subscript. When there is just one atom of an element in a molecule, no subscript is used. Table below shows some other examples of compounds and their chemical formulas.