Complete the statement.
Rubidium chloride is ().
A: an elementary substance
B: a compound
You can tell whether rubidium chloride is an elementary substance or a compound by counting the number of atomic symbols in its chemical formula. An atomic symbol consists of either one capital letter or a capital letter followed by one or two lowercase letters.
The chemical formula for rubidium chloride, RbCl, contains two atomic symbols: Rb for rubidium and Cl for chlorine. So, the formula tells you that rubidium chloride is composed of two chemical elements bonded together.
Since rubidium chloride is composed of multiple chemical elements bonded together, rubidium chloride is a compound.