Element Symbols

How to play

1. Press Start. You have 8 minutes, and the symbols appear in a new order every game.
2. One symbol is selected, and a larger copy sits next to the answer field. Type the name of its element: it counts as soon as it matches, and the next symbol you haven’t named is selected.
3. Only the selected symbol counts. If you type another element’s name, you’re told it isn’t that one and the field clears. Wrong answers cost nothing but time.
4. Names only: typing the symbol or a Latin name doesn’t count. Capitals and spaces don’t matter, but the spelling does. British and American spellings are both accepted.
5. Tap any symbol to switch to it. On a keyboard, Tab or Enter on an empty field moves to the next symbol and Shift+Tab to the previous one. Esc leaves the answer field.
6. Pause whenever you like; the symbols are hidden while the clock is stopped. If you close or reload the page mid-game, the game waits, paused, until you come back.
7. When the time is up, every symbol is labeled with its element and atomic number. Then practice the ones you missed in an untimed round.

Names that count

Type the element’s English name. Capitals, spaces and accents don’t matter, but the spelling does. Names follow IUPAC, the international body that names the elements, and three elements also have an American or older British spelling that counts just as well: aluminium or aluminum, caesium or cesium, sulfur or sulphur.

The symbol itself never counts, and neither do the Latin names that some symbols come from. The quiz asks what the symbol stands for, so typing it back isn’t an answer.

Symbols that don’t match their names

Most symbols are one or two letters from the element’s English name. 11 are not, because they come from older names: ten from Latin, the language of early chemistry, and one from German. When the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius introduced letter symbols in the early 1800s, he took them from the Latin names that scholars across Europe shared, and they stuck even where the English name is unrelated.

They are the hardest part of this quiz, and the most rewarding to learn: once you know the Latin, the symbol explains itself.

Questions

How many element symbols are there?

118, one for each confirmed element. 14 are a single capital letter; the rest are a capital followed by a lowercase letter. The case matters on paper: Co is one element, while CO, with two capitals, is a compound of two.

Why are the symbols shuffled and not in a periodic table?

An element’s place in the table is a strong hint, so this quiz shows the symbols alone, in a new order every game. To practice the table itself, play the Periodic Table quiz, which asks for every element’s name with the blank table in front of you.

Can I play with a screen reader?

Yes. Each symbol is read letter by letter, since screen readers often say a two-letter symbol as a word. After each answer, the next symbol is announced, so you can keep typing without leaving the answer field.

Does the clock stop if I switch tabs?

No, use Pause for that. If you close or reload the page mid-game, the game is saved and waits, paused, until you come back.

Where are my scores kept?

Only in this browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and clearing your browser’s site data removes them. Your scores here are separate from the Periodic Table quiz.

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