ISO 31-8 is the part ofinternational standardISO 31 that defines names and symbols forquantities andunits related tophysical chemistry andmolecular physics.
| Quantity | Unit | Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Symbol | Definition | Name | Symbol | |
| relative atomic mass | Ar | Ratio of the average mass per atom of an element to 1/12 of the mass of an atom of the nuclide12C | one | 1 | Formerly calledatomic/molecular weight. Example:Ar(Cl) = 35.453. Both quantities depend on the nuclidic composition. |
| relative molecular mass | Mr | Ratio of the average mass per molecule or specified entity of a substance to 1/12 of the mass of an atom of the nuclide12C | |||
| number of molecules or other elementary entities | N | Number of molecules or other elementary entities in a system | one | 1 | |
| amount of substance | n, (ν) | mole | mol | The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of12C. When the mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified and may be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, other particles, or specific groups of such particles. The definition applies to unbound atoms of12C, at rest and in their ground state. | |
| ... | |||||
In the tables of quantities and their units, the ISO 31-8 standard shows symbols for substances as subscripts (e.g.,cB,wB,pB). It also notes that it is generally advisable to put symbols for substances and their states in parentheses on the same line, as inc(H2SO4).
This annex contains alist of elements by atomic number, giving the names and standard symbols of thechemical elements from atomic number 1 (hydrogen, H) to 109 (unnilennium, Une).
The list given in ISO 31-8:1992 was quoted from the 1998IUPAC "Green Book"Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry and adds in some cases in parentheses the Latin name for information, where the standard symbol has no relation to the English name of the element. Since the 1992 edition of the standard was published, some elements with atomic number above 103 have been discovered and renamed.
Symbols for chemical elements shall be written in roman (upright) type. The symbol is not followed by a full-stop.
Examples:
Attached subscripts or superscripts specifying a nucleotide or molecule have the following meanings and positions:
pH is definedoperationally as follows. For a solution X, first measure theelectromotive forceEX of thegalvanic cell
and then also measure the electromotive forceES of a galvanic cell that differs from the above one only by the replacement of the solution X of unknown pH, pH(X), by a solution S of a known standard pH, pH(S). Then obtain the pH of X as
where
Defined this way, pH is a quantity of dimension 1, that is it has no unit. Values pH(S) for a range of standard solutions S are listed inDefinitions of pH scales, standard reference values, measurement of pH, and related terminology. Pure Appl. Chem. (1985), 57, pp 531–542, where further details can be found.
pH has no fundamental meaning; its official definition is a practical one. However, in the restricted range of dilute aqueous solutions having amount-of-substance concentrations less than 0.1 mol/L, and being neither strongly alkaline nor strongly acidic (2 < pH < 12), the definition is such that
wherec(H+) denotes the amount-of-substance concentration of hydrogen ion H+ andy1 denotes the activity coefficient of a typical uni-univalent electrolyte in the solution.
