Complete the statement.
Hydrogen chloride is ().
A: a compound
B: an elementary substance
You can tell whether hydrogen 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 hydrogen chloride, HCl, contains two atomic symbols: H for hydrogen and Cl for chlorine. So, the formula tells you that hydrogen chloride is composed of two chemical elements bonded together.
Since hydrogen chloride is composed of multiple chemical elements bonded together, hydrogen chloride is a compound.