Chemistry Students:

Haven’t you wondered how to get those specialized symbols into your word-processing documents? If you have the Lucida Sans Unicode font installed (check the font list in Word) you are in luck.

When you want to insert a symbol, click on the Insert menu and choose Symbol. In the font box select Lucida Sans Unicode. You will see a very rich selection of specialized characters available for use. Here are a few that might be useful.

⇌ equilibrium symbol code no. 21CC

¯ anion charge 00AF

° degree symbol 00b0

℃ degrees Celsius 2103

√ radical 221A

→ reaction arrow 2192

∆ increment 2206

≈ is approximately equal to 2248

Now, here is an even easier way to get the equilibrium symbol. With the cursor at the insertion point where you want the symbol to appear, type 21cc, then press ALT and X simultaneously. If you have the Lucida Sans Unicode font available, this will type the equilibrium symbol without going to the insert symbol menu. This method will work with any of the symbols above, substituting the appropriate code before typing ALT+X.