Question
Why do an oxygen atom's element symbol and an oxygen molecule's chemical formula use different notation? Explain the distinction.
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Evidence boundary
This answers the complete conceptual requirement of OpenStax Chemistry 2e Exercise 2.27. “A molecule of oxygen” is interpreted as ordinary diatomic oxygen, O₂, as in the textbook section. The distinction concerns particle notation; it does not claim that oxygen can occur only as O₂ or that the element symbol O always denotes an isolated atom in every context.