What do these U.S. states have in common?

Question

The following U.S. states have something in common that is not shared by any other state:

Alabama
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Indiana
Louisiana
Maryland
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
North Dakota
Pennsylvania
South Carolina

What is it?

there in a list on some seemingly random question posted on a puzzling site... — micsthepick, Dec 05 '17 at 20:22

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 06 '17 at 07:59

These states ...

... have postal abbreviations that are symbols of chemical elements:

                               Alabama AL   Al Aluminium
                              Arkansas AR   Ar Argon
                            California CA   Ca Calcium
                              Colorado CO   Co Cobalt
                               Florida FL   Fl Flerovium
                               Georgia GA   Ga Gallium
                               Indiana IN   In Indium
                             Louisiana LA   La Lanthanum
                              Maryland MD   Md Mendelevium
                             Minnesota MN   Mn Manganese
                              Missouri MO   Mo Molybdenium
                               Montana MT   Mt Meitnerium
                              Nebraska NE   Ne Neon
                         New Hampshire NH   Nh Nihonium
                          North Dakota ND   Nd Neodymium
                          Pennsylvania PA   Pa Protactinum
                        South Carolina SC   Sc Scandium

Well, I first thought they were the states with or without a town called Springfield. But that was wrong, so it had to be something else. — M Oehm, Dec 06 '17 at 08:15

What do these U.S. states have in common?

1 Answers1