Question

Hydrochloric acid ($HCl$) is a compound made up of elements ________.
A.Hydrogen
B.Chlorine
C.Hydrogen and chlorine
D.None of these

Answer 1

Hint: To answer this question, you must recall the chemical symbols and formulae used to represent various elements and compounds. Each element is depicted by a symbol uniquely assigned to it.

Complete step by step solution:
A symbol of an element is a notation consisting of generally one or two letters and is used to denote a chemical element. There is a certain way of writing the symbol of and element. The first letter should be always capitalized and the second letter (and third in some cases) is always written in lowercase. If an element has just a one letter symbol, it must always be written in uppercase.
We know that H is the symbol of hydrogen and Cl is the symbol of chlorine. Thus, we can say that HCl is a compound made up of the elements hydrogen and chlorine combined together in equal amounts.

Hence, the correct option is C.

Additional information:
We know that hydrogen has a single atom in its valence shell and is one electron short from a noble gas like configuration. Similar is the case with chlorine which has 7 electrons in its valence shell. Both the atoms share an electron with each other forming a covalent bond.HCl is a well-known strong acid, that is, it releases a proton. But it happens in aqueous medium. Outside an aqueous medium, hydrogen chloride exists as a covalently bonded gas.

Note: Symbols are used commonly for the representation of elements in the modern periodic table since the names of elements can be long and complex to use. Chemical formulae and equations are also depicted using the chemical symbols of the constituent elements. Without symbols, the representation of all the 118 elements would be a very difficult task.