A question on sulphur

Question

i came across this,

formulae of oxygen is O2

formulae of sulphur is S.Isn't the formulae of sulphur S2?

I don't understand why oxygen can be O2 and sulphur, althought being in the same group has the formulae of S.

Second qn,

i continue reading as i saw this that puzzled me.

sulphur is a polyatomic molecule with the formulae of S8, ozone is a polyatomic of O3. I am confuse, S, S2, S8?

Answer 1

The symbol of the element sulphur is indeed S.  Rhombic sulphur exists as S8 molecules.  'Flowers of Sulphur' is an amorphous mix of various sized chains/rings.  There might be some S2 in sulphur vapour.

Unlike oxygen, sulphur (being a larger atom) tends not to form stable double bonds with itself, so S2 is not a common/likely structure.  It can form extremely long chains (as in 'plastic sulphur' which will contain chains of more than 1000 sulphur atoms!)

The symbol of the element oxygen is O.  The gas oxygen is made up of diatomic molecules of the formula O2; while the formula of ozone (trioxygen), an allotrope of oxygen is O3.

Answer 2

The molecule has a formula of S8. What you saw earlier was probably the symbol of sulphur which is indeed S.