particle_symbol

plasmapy.particles.symbols.particle_symbol(
particle: Particle,
*,
mass_numb: int | None = None,
Z: int | None = None,
) → str[source]

Return the symbol of a particle.

Parameters:

  • particle (particle-like) – A str representing a particle, element, isotope, or ion or an int representing an atomic number

  • mass_numb (integer, keyword-only, optional) – The mass number of an isotope.

  • Z (integer, keyword-only, optional) – The charge number of an ion or neutral atom.

Returns:

The particle symbol, containing charge and mass number information when available. The result will generally be returned as something like 'e-', 'Fe', 'He-4 2+', 'D', 'n', 'mu-', or 'p+'.

Return type:

str

Raises:

InvalidParticleError – If arguments do not correspond to a valid particle or contradictory information is provided.

Warns:

`~plasmapy.particles.exceptions.ParticleWarning` – If redundant mass number or charge information is provided.

See also

atomic_symbol, isotope_symbol, ionic_symbol

Examples

>>> particle_symbol("electron")
'e-'
>>> particle_symbol("proton")
'p+'
>>> particle_symbol("alpha")
'He-4 2+'
>>> particle_symbol("H-1", Z=-1)
'H-1 1-'