Question

The symbol of helium is:

A.H
B. He
C. Hl
D. Hm

Answer 1

Hint: We know that, the first scientist who used symbols for elements was Dalton. After that, following the suggestion of Berzillius, symbols of elements were made from one or two letters of the name of the element.

Complete step by step answer: Generally the first letter of the name of the element in uppercase represents the symbol of elements, such as, in case of Boron (B), Hydrogen (H) etc. Sometimes the first two letters of the name of elements are also used to give symbol to the element.

We have to identify the symbol of helium. Let’s find the correct answer from the options.

Option A is H. H is the symbol of hydrogen which is the first element of the periodic table. So, option A is incorrect.

Option B is He. ‘He’ is the symbol of elements. This symbol is accepted using the first two letters of the name of the element, that is, Helium.

There is no element whose symbol is ‘Hl’ and ‘Hm’. So, option C and D are incorrect.

Hence, the correct answer is option B.

Additional information: In the beginning, the name given to elements was derived from the place where the element is found. For example, the name of copper is taken from Cyprus. Some other elements were named on the basis of their colour, such as gold was taken from English word meaning yellow.


Note: Nowadays, the approval for names of elements is done by IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry). The symbols of elements are generally the first one or two letters taken from the element’s English name. First letter of the symbol is always in uppercase and the second letter is in lowercase, such as, Na (sodium), Ti (Titanium) etc.