What is an easy way to remember which elements exist as diatomic?
The symbols of all the elements that form diatomic elements (exist only as diatomics in their elemental form) can be arranged into a word. This is not a real dictionary word but a pronounceable word. Hoffbrinkle (H, O, F, Br, I, N, Cl). These 7 elements are the ones you will see as diatomic. So if you need to put nitrogen in a chemical equation, hoffbrinkle will help you to remember that nitrogen does not exist as N but as N2 in the real world.
