Element Symbols That Are US Postal Abbreviations Quiz

Answer:

Al - Aluminum/Alabama
Aluminum is the most abundant metal found in the Earth's crust, but is never found free in nature. It was considered a precious metal in the 19th century. A small aluminum pyramid is placed at the apex of the Washington Monument because of its relative value at the time.

Alabama is the 22nd state of the United States (Admitted 12/14/1819). It became a stage for the Civil Rights movement when Gov. George Wallace personally stood in front of the entrance to the University of Alabama to block the entry of African-American students.

Ar - Argon/Arkansas
Argon is present in the Earth's atmosphere, at just less than 1%. Being a very inert gas, it is used as a protective shield in industrial processes that require the shielding of reactive materials from atmospheric oxygen.

Arkansas is the 25th state of the United States (Admitted 6/15/1836). It is the base state of Walmart Inc. (founded 1962), the world's largest company by revenue.

Ca -Calcium/California
Calcium is the 5th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, forming about 3%. It is an important biological element, being a essential material of plant leaves, and the bones, teeth, and shells of animals.

California is the 31st state of the United States (Admitted 9/9/1850). It is the most populous state and third largest. If it were a country, its economy would be the fifth largest.

The element named after the state, Californium (atomic number 98), has the atomic symbol "Cf". A second state, Tennessee, also has an element named after it, Tennessine (atomic number 117), with an atomic symbol "Ts".

Co - Cobalt/Colorado
Cobalt, when alloyed with aluminum, nickel, copper, titanium, and iron, forms a ferromagnetic material called Alnico, which was used to create permanent magnets before the advent of rare-earth magnets.

Colorado is the 38th state of the United States (Admitted 8/1/1876). Since it was admitted less than a month after the US Centennial, it is nicknamed "The Centennial State". It looks rectangular on a Mercator projection map, being defined as the area between 37 and 41 degrees north latitude and 25 and 32 degrees west of the Washington Meridian. However, due to surveying errors, it is officially defined by 697 straight lines (a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon).

Fl - Flerovium/Florida
Flerovium is named after Georgy Flyorov, who founded the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. It has a half-life of 30 seconds, which is relatively long compared to some of its neighbors on the periodic table. This is evidence of the "island of stability" that had been predicted to occur around element 114.

Florida is the 27th state of the United States (Admitted 3/3/1845). It is the state that is most hit by tropical storms/hurricanes. Between 1851 and 2024, it has been hit by over 500 tropical/subtropical cyclones, 125 of which were hurricanes.

Ga - Gallium/Georgia
Gallium is one of four metals (the others being mercury, cesium, and rubidium) that can be liquid near room temperature. Because of this, they are used in high-temperature thermometers.

Georgia is the 4th state of the United States (Admitted 1/2/1788), one of the original 13 colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. It is the largest state east of the Mississippi River.

In - Indium/Indiana
Indium gets its name from the bright indigo line in its spectrum.

Indiana is the 19th state of the United States (Admitted 12/11/1816). The element indium is unrelated to the name of the state Indiana, which means "land of the Indians". The naming of native-descent peoples "Indians" is a misnomer, as Christopher Columbus thought he had landed in the Far East near India.

La - Lanthanum/Louisiana
Lanthanum - from which the Lanthanide Series of elements is named - is one of the most reactive of the rare-earth metals. It oxidizes rapidly in air. Its oxide La2O3 improves the alkali resistance of glass, and is used in making special optical glasses.

Louisiana is the 18th state of the United States (Admitted 4/30/1812). The current state is formed from the southernmost portion of the Louisiana Purchase, a land purchase made by Thomas Jefferson from France for $15 million, or about 4 cents per acre. The Louisiana Purchase encompassed land that eventually became part or all of 15 US states.

Md - Mendelevium/Maryland
Mendelevium is named after Dmitri Mendeleev, the Russian chemist and inventor who formulated the Periodic Law in regards to chemical elements and created a version of the periodic table of elements, the basis of the modern Periodic table. The element itself was created by bombarding an isotope of einsteinium with helium ions.

Maryland is the 7th state of the United States (Admitted 4/28/1788), one of the original 13 colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. About 67 square miles of the state, along with 33 square miles of Virginia, were ceded to the US government to create the District of Columbia, the capital of the US, forming a 10 mile by 10 mile diamond that straddled the Potomac River. The Virginia portion was ceded back to that state in 1846.

Mn - Manganese/Minnesota
Manganese is used in steel production because it improves rolling and forging qualities, as well as adding strength, stiffness, wear resistance, and hardness. Its presence in quartz creates the purple color that is characteristic of true amethyst.

Minnesota is the 32nd state of the United States (Admitted 5/11/1858). It's known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". It has 14,420 bodies of fresh water covering at least 10 acres each.

Mo - Molybdenum/Missouri
Molybdenum is valuable as a catalyst in petroleum refining, as well as a trace element in plant nutrition that is necessary for nitrogen fixation and other metabolic processes.

Missouri is the 24th state of the United States (Admitted 8/10/1821). It played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark joined forces in St. Charles, MO, before setting out west to explore the Louisiana Purchase, crossing the Continental Divide, and arriving at the Pacific Ocean where the Columbia River ends.

Mt - Meitnerium/Montana
Meitnerium is named in honor of Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist Lise Meitner, who was instrumental in the discoveries of nuclear fission which led to the development of nuclear weapons and power.

Montana is the 41st state of the United States (Admitted 11/8/1889). It is the 4th largest state in area, but the 8th-least populous and 3rd-least densely populated state.

Nd - Neodymium/North Dakota
Neodymium is used for coloring glass to make welders goggles. Rare-earth magnets that use it are ten times stronger than ceramic magnets.

North Dakota is the 39th state of the United States (Admitted 11/2/1889, the same day as South Dakota. But the latter is considered the 40th state). It was named after the Dakota Sioux. The town of Rugby, ND, is arguably the geographical center of North America.

Ne - Neon/Nebraska
Neon is present in Earth's atmosphere at about 0.00154%. Its main use is in neon advertising signs. Liquid neon is now commercially available, which is used as an economical cryogenic refrigerant.

Nebraska is the 37th state of the United States (Admitted 3/1/1867). Its state legislature is unicameral (one house), unlike every other state, which have bicameral legislatures, modeled after the US federal legislature. It is one of two states (Maine is the other) which divide their electoral college votes by district.

Nh - Nihonium/New Hampshire
Nihonium (atomic weight 113) is named after the Japanese word for Japan - "Nihon". It is a transuranic element, of which very few atoms of it have been created, so nothing is known about its chemical properties.

New Hampshire is the 9th state of the United States (Admitted 6/21/1788), one of the original 13 colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. It holds the first primary in the US presidential election cycle.

Pa - Protactinium/Pennsylvania
Protactinium was predicted by Mendeleev to be between thorium and uranium. William Crookes isolated it from uranium. However, it was so unstable that he couldn't characterize it as a new chemical element. Finally, Otto Hahn & Lisa Meitner (Germany) and Frederick Soddy & John Cranston (Great Britain) discovered Protactinium-231, which has a half-life of 32,000 years.

Pennsylvania is the 2nd state of the United States (Admitted 12/12/1787), ratifying the US Constitution just five days after Delaware (the first state). It has a rich history, being founded in 1681 by a royal land grant to William Penn. (The name means Penn's woodland.) It contains the sites of American Independence War & American Civil War battles. It has two of the largest metropolitan areas of the country: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Sc - Scandium/South Carolina
Scandium is named after Scandinavia. The blue color of the mineral aquamarine beryl is due to the presence of scandium.

South Carolina is the 8th state of the United States (Admitted 5/23/1788), one of the original 13 colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. During the American Independence War, it was the site of over 200 battles and skirmishes. During the Civil War, it was the first to vote for secession from the Union. It was re-admitted on July 9, 1868.