Editing Chemical symbol (section)

===Alchemical symbols===
{{main|Alchemical symbols}}
The [[alchemical symbols|following ideographic symbols]] were used in [[alchemy]] to denote elements known since ancient times. Not included in this list are spurious elements, such as the [[classical element]]s [[fire (classical element)|fire]] and [[water (classical element)|water]] or [[phlogiston]], and substances now known to be compounds. Many more symbols were in at least sporadic use: one early 17th-century alchemical manuscript lists 22 symbols for mercury alone.<ref name=Crosland/>

Planetary names and symbols for the metals – the seven planets and seven metals known since Classical times in Europe and the Mideast<!--Americans also knew of platinum, but Europeans didn't discover that was another metal until the 18th c.--> – was ubiquitous in alchemy. The association of what are anachronistically known as [[planetary metal]]s started breaking down with the discovery of antimony, bismuth and zinc in the 16th century. Alchemists would typically call the metals by their planetary names, e.g. "Saturn" for lead and "Mars" for iron; compounds of tin, iron and silver continued to be called "jovial", "martial" and "lunar"; or "of Jupiter", "of Mars" and "of the moon", through the 17th century. The tradition remains today with the name of the element mercury, where chemists decided the planetary name was preferable to common names like "quicksilver", and in a few archaic terms such as [[wikt:lunar caustic|lunar caustic]] (silver nitrate) and [[saturnism]] (lead poisoning).<ref name=Crosland>Maurice Crosland (2004) ''Historical Studies in the Language of Chemistry''</ref>

{{sticky header}}
{| class="wikitable sticky-header" style
|+ Alchemical symbols for the modern elements
!colspan=2|Symbol!!Element!!Atomic<br/>number!!Notes
|-
| {{nowrap|[[Image:Phosphorus symbol.svg|24px]][[File:Phosphorus symbol (inverted).svg|24px]]}} || style="text-align:center;" |  || [[Phosphorus]] || 15 || (discovered late)
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Sulphur symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|🜍}} || [[Sulfur]] || 16 || used by Newton
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Manganese symbol (Bergman).svg|24px]] ||  || [[Manganese]] || 25 || late; used by [[Torbern Bergman]] (1775)
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Mars symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|♂}} || [[Iron]] || 26 || classical planetary metal of Mars
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Alkali symbol.svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|🜶}} || [[Cobalt]] || 27 || late; used by Bergman
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Nickel symbol.svg|24px]] || || [[Nickel]] || 28 || late; used by Bergman (old positional variant of arsenic, previously used for [[wikt:regulus|regulus]] of sulfur)
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Zinc symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]] || || [[Zinc]] || 30 || late; used by Bergman 
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Venus symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|♀}} || [[Copper]] || 29 || classical planetary metal of Venus
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Arsenic symbol.svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|🜺}} || [[Arsenic]] || 33 || 
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Moon decrescent symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]]  || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|☾}} || rowspan="2" | [[Silver]] || rowspan="2" | 47 || classical planetary metal of the Moon
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Silver symbol (alchemical).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|🜛}} || 
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Jupiter symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|♃}} || [[Tin]] || 50 || classical planetary metal of Jupiter
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Globus cruciger (fixed width).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|♁}} || [[Antimony]] || 51 || the newly discovered "eighth metal" was given the symbol for the Earth, which was recognized as a planet by that time
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Platinum symbol.svg|24px]] || || rowspan="2" | [[Platinum]] || rowspan="2" | 78 || late; used by Bergman et al.: a compound of ☉ gold and ☾ silver
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Uranus symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|⛢}} || late; symbol invented for the newly discovered planet Uranus so that it could also be used for newly recognized platinum
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Sun symbol (medieval).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|🜚}} || rowspan="2" | [[Gold]] || rowspan="2" | 79 || classical variant
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Sun symbol.svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|☉}} || medieval variant; planetary metal of the Sun
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Mercury symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|☿}} || [[Mercury (element)|Mercury]] || 80 || classical planetary metal of Mercury
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[file:Saturn symbol (fixed width).svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|♄}} || [[Lead]] || 82 || classical planetary metal of Saturn
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Bismuth trident symbol.svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|♆}} || rowspan=2| [[Bismuth]] || rowspan=2| 83 || used by Newton
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Bismuth symbol.svg|24px]] || style="text-align:center;" | {{big|♉︎}} || used by Bergman
|}