Let's face it, it's that time in the semester. The students are sick. They are handing in exams and papers and you just want to run them through an autoclave. Throw on top of that all kinds of other work. This week for me has included 3 sections of gen chem exams, reading through approximately 100 abstracts for our sessions at ACS this spring, and reading through about 100 submissions for various on campus funding opportunities for a committee I am on. So, the fact that I need to get a BITeS post together is not making things easier. I am going for the low hanging fruit and giving an answer to the latest poll on VIPEr. The question was "How many elements have the same symbol at US State postal codes?" Sure you could look it up, but that's too much work.

There are 17 of them!

Al - Aluminum and Alabama

Ar - Argon and Arkansas

Ca - Calcium and California

Co - Cobalt and Colorado

Fl - Flerovium and Florida (the newest edition to the list)

Ga - Galium and Georgia

In - Indium and Indiana

La - Lanthanum and Louisiana

Md - Mendelevium and Maryland

Mo - Molybdenum and Missouri

Mn - Manganese and Minnesota

Mt - Meitnerium and Montana

Ne - Neon and Nebraska

Nh - Nihonium and New Hampshire

Nd - Neodymium and North Dakota

Pa - Protactinium and Pennsylvania

Sc - Scandium and South Carolina

And now you know, because learning is half the battle...