A
chemical formula is a way of expressing information about the proportions of
atoms that constitute a particular
chemical compound, using a single line of
chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as parentheses, dashes, brackets, commas and
plus (+) and
minus (-) signs. These are limited to a single typographic line of symbols, which may include subscripts and superscripts. A chemical formula is not a
chemical name, and it contains no words. Although a chemical formula may imply certain simple chemical structures, it is not the same as a full chemical
structural formula. Chemical formulas can fully specify the structure of only the simplest of
molecules and
chemical substances, and are generally more limited in power than are chemical names and structural formulas.