The symbol CO stands for carbon monoxide, but the sym-bol Co stands for the element cobalt. Explain.

Video transcript

Hey everyone, we're told that boron mono iodide is represented by the symbol B. I. While bismuth is represented by the symbol B. I. As well explain. So element symbols are composed of one or two letters. And looking at our first symbol, we have boron mono iodide with a capital B and a capital I. So we have to uppercase letters. And because we have two uppercase letters, this tells us that we have a compound. And looking at bismuth, we have an uppercase B and a lower case I, which tells us that it is the symbol for an element. So that is the reason why the symbols may be spelled the same, but they look different and represent two different entities. Now I hope that made sense. And let us know if you have any questions.