Chemical Formula

Real World Example

Imagine trying to quickly identify the ingredients needed to make your favorite sandwich just by glancing at a list. Much like how you use shorthand to note down 'bread, turkey, lettuce, tomato' for a turkey sandwich, chemists use chemical formulas to efficiently represent the elements within a compound. Just as the shorthand list allows you to instantly know what components are needed for your sandwich, a chemical formula like H2O tells you that water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, efficiently communicating the 'ingredients' of the compound.