Q27 E

Question

Explain why the symbol for an atom of the element oxygen and the formula for a molecule of oxygen differ.

Step-by-Step Solution

Verified
Answer

The symbol O is used to represent an atom/ element while O2 is the molecular formula.  

1Step 1 – Determine the definition of molecular formula

A molecular formula is a representation of a molecule that uses chemical symbols to indicate the type of atoms. It is also used as abbreviations for the names of compounds.

The molecular formula has subscript 2 which denotes the number of oxygen atoms in the molecule.