Science emoji meanings: the lab bench
Microscope is the science emoji people reach for first: research, biology, “looking closely” at a problem, and the lab in general. Test tube is the chemistry emoji and also the generic experiment, from a potion in a game to “we're testing this feature”. Alembic is the old distilling flask of alchemists; today it reads as chemistry, a brewing idea, or anything cooked up in a lab. Petri dish shows a culture growing on agar and stands for microbiology, bacteria and “let's see what grows”.
DNA means genetics, heredity and ancestry tests, and in bios it says “biologist” or “it's in my DNA”. Microbe is the germ: a virus, bacteria, being sick, and since 2020 the coronavirus itself. Magnet is physics class, attraction and “drawn to”. Thermometer measures a fever or the weather, and in a lab post it is simply temperature. Scientist wears a lab coat and goggles and holds a flask; and are the woman and man versions, and lab coat and goggles are the kit on their own.
Most of this set arrived together: and were all added in Emoji 11.0 in 2018, after a proposal for a proper science set. and are much older, part of the first big emoji release in Unicode 6.0 (2010), and existed as a plain text symbol from Unicode 4.1 (2005) before it became an emoji in 2015.
Atom, radioactive and biohazard: the science symbols
Atom symbol is the classic picture of an atom: a nucleus with three electron orbits around it. It means science, physics and chemistry, and it is the emoji for “science” in a one-character bio. It also has a second life: the atomic whirl is the emblem of American Atheists, adopted in 1963, which is why sits in the Religion section of the emoji keyboard and why you will see it meaning “atheist” next to . The character has been in Unicode since 2005 and became an emoji in 2015.
Radioactive is the trefoil, designed in 1946 at the University of California's Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley; the first version was magenta on blue, and the yellow background came later. Biohazard was designed in 1966 by Charles Baldwin, an engineer at Dow Chemical, who tested candidate shapes until he found one that was memorable but meant nothing else to people. Both have been in Unicode since 1993 and emoji since 2015. Warning and the plain text caution sign complete the lab door.
In chat they are rarely literal: marks something toxic, a nuclear take or a “radioactive” ex, marks a bad cold going round the office, and together say “stay away”. For the full set of danger and prohibition signs see Warning & Prohibited Sign Emoji.
Chemistry symbols for formulas: ₂ Δ
A chemical formula needs subscripts, and the Unicode subscript digits let you type them as plain text in any app: H₂O, CO₂, C₆H₁₂O₆, Na₂SO₄. Charges go up top with the superscript digits and signs: Na, Cl, Ca², SO₄². These are real characters, not formatting, so they survive copy and paste into Discord, Google Docs, Instagram captions and spreadsheet cells. The whole grid of them is on the Superscript & Subscript Numbers page.
Reactions read left to right with (“yields”); the longer leaves room for conditions written above it. A reversible reaction uses , two half-arrows pointing opposite ways, which is the equilibrium sign in every chemistry textbook; is a look-alike with full arrowheads that some people use instead. Δ written over the arrow means the mixture is heated. is the benzene ring, the hexagon of organic chemistry, and is the version with the delocalised circle inside.
Put together: 2H₂ O₂ 2H₂O, N₂ 3H₂ 2NH₃, CaCO₃ CaO CO₂ under Δ. Temperatures take or K, and concentrations and masses use the unit signs in the next group.
Physics symbols: λ μ Ω ℏ and the Greek letters scientists use
Physics borrows the Greek alphabet for its variables. λ (lambda) is wavelength, ν (nu) frequency, ρ (rho) density, μ (mu) the coefficient of friction and the micro prefix, θ (theta) an angle, ω (omega) angular velocity, τ (tau) torque or a time constant, ε permittivity, σ conductivity or stress and Σ a sum. α β γ name the three kinds of radiation. Δ is “change in”, as in ΔT and Δx, and ψ Ψ is the wave function of quantum mechanics.
Some of these have a separate Unicode character for the unit: Ω the ohm sign , µ the micro sign , Å the angstrom sign and K the kelvin sign . They exist for compatibility with older character sets, and Unicode itself recommends the ordinary Greek omega, Greek mu, Å and K instead; both kinds look the same on screen and either will be understood. and are single characters too, though C typed as degree sign plus C is more common.
The constants and relations: ℏ is the reduced Planck constant (h divided by 2π), proportional to, approximately, for an uncertainty, the dot for multiplication in units like Nm, and for the maths. Circuit diagrams and spec sheets add earth ground, direct current and alternating current. The complete sets are on the Math Symbols, Degree & Unit Symbols and Greek Letters pages.
Biology, Earth and space: the rest of the science class
Biology has the body: brain, bone, tooth, anatomical heart and lungs (both from 2020), eye, X-ray (2021), blood and syringe. The specimens on the bench are the frog of the dissection class, the lab mouse and rat , the worm , the ant , the butterfly of the life-cycle lesson, a seedling and herb for botany, a mushroom and an egg . are the dinosaurs of the fossil hall, and doubles as the fossil itself.
Earth science gets the globe , a volcano , a rock and a gem for geology, for the water cycle and weather. Astronomy is the telescope, the radio dish, a satellite, a rocket, a planet, a comet, the galaxy and the sun, moon and star . The bigger sets are on the Space Emoji, Weather Emoji, Nature Emoji and Medical Emoji pages.
Then the thinking and the results: for the idea, for the nerd, the sceptic and the puzzle, for a mind-blowing fact, for the data, for the lab notebook, for the analysis and for the teacher, the school and the degree. and cover computer science, which has its own page in Coding & Developer Emoji.
Symbols
153Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
The lab bench
What people mean by “science emoji”: glassware, the microscope and the 2018 lab set.
Physics and measuring
Energy, electricity and the tools for measuring things.
Biology and anatomy
From the body to the specimens on the bench. The full sets live in Medical, Bug & Insect and Dinosaur Emoji.
Ideas, data and the classroom
The thinking, the results and the people who teach it.
Chemistry symbols for formulas
Text, not emoji: type H₂O, CO₂ and Na⁺ with real subscripts, and the arrows of a reaction.
Physics symbols and units
Unit signs, constants and the relations that hold a formula together.
How to use them
6 situationsClick to copyScience Emoji combos
15Worth knowing
- lives in the Religion section of the emoji keyboard, among , because the atomic whirl has been the emblem of American Atheists since 1963.
- The radioactive trefoil was drawn in 1946 at Berkeley's Radiation Laboratory and was originally magenta on a blue background; the biohazard sign was designed in 1966 at Dow Chemical and chosen because test audiences found it memorable but could not guess what it meant.
- When arrived in 2018, biologists noticed that several platforms had drawn the double helix twisting the wrong way (left-handed, while real DNA is right-handed), and some vendors redrew it.
- Eight lab emoji, and , were added in the same year, 2018, from a proposal for a proper set of science emoji; until then the keyboard's whole laboratory was and .
- Ω, µ, Å and K each have a second Unicode character made just for the unit (ohm sign, micro sign, angstrom sign, kelvin sign); Unicode now recommends the ordinary letters, so the unit signs are mostly a legacy of older encodings.
Questions people ask
8How do I copy and paste science emoji?
Tap or click any emoji or symbol in the grid above and it is copied; paste it with CtrlV or a long press. On a phone, are in the emoji keyboard under Objects, under Animals & Nature, and under Symbols.
Is there a science emoji?
There is no single one, but atom symbol, microscope and test tube are the three people use to mean “science”. Add for biology, or for chemistry, or for physics and for astronomy.
What does the atom emoji mean?
means science, physics, chemistry or an atom. Because the atomic whirl is the emblem of American Atheists, it also means atheism, which is why it sits among the religious symbols on the keyboard.
What does the test tube emoji mean?
means chemistry, an experiment or a test: a lab class, a science project, a product in testing, or a potion in a game. alembic and petri dish are its lab companions.
Is there a chemistry emoji?
Yes: test tube, alembic and petri dish, with for the atom and for the reaction. For writing formulas, use the text symbols on this page: ₂ ₃ for H₂O and CO₂, for charges, and for reactions.
Is there a scientist emoji?
Yes: scientist, woman scientist and man scientist, all with a lab coat, goggles and a flask, and available in every skin tone. The woman and man versions arrived in 2016, the gender-neutral one in 2019.
What does the DNA emoji mean?
means genetics, heredity, a DNA or ancestry test, biology as a field, or “it's in my DNA” for something that is part of who you are.
How do I type chemistry symbols like H₂O and ?
Copy the subscript digits ₀ ₂ ₃ ₄, the charges and the arrows from this page; they are ordinary text characters, so they work in any app. On a Mac the Character Viewer (Control Command Space) finds them by name, and in Word the equation editor converts \rightleftharpoons into ; everywhere else copying from this page is quickest.
