I've noticed that the shorthand notations for chemical elements, such as C for carbon, are called symbols, not abbreviations. This also seems to be the case in several other scientific contexts, such as physical constants.
What special meaning does the term symbol carry in these contexts? How is a symbol distinct from an abbreviation?
Best Answer
An abbreviation is a shortening of a word. An example of an abbreviation would be "intro." instead of "introduction". Another example would be the use of "Mr." for the word "Mister". In Medicine, "pre-op." is an abbreviation for pre-operative. Note that abbreviations are followed by periods.
On the other hand, the word for the characters representing Chemical elements, and certain physical constants is "symbol". One reason for this is that while a some elements, such as Neon (NE), Nitogen (N), Carbon (C), and Oxygen (O) look like abbreviations, they are not written with periods (unless at the end of a sentence), and in some cases the symbol is not an abbreviation of the English name. The symbol for the element iron, for example, is Fe. Also, note that the symbol is universal. The symbol for iron in a scientific paper written in English is FE; so is the symbol in a scientific paper written in Spanish, where the word for iron is "Hiero", and in a scientific paper written in German, where the word for iron is "Eisen". Other common symbols which do not appear to be abbreviations in English are those for lead (Pb), and for Tin (Sn), and there are cases where the symbol that appears to be an abbreviation in English, like "O" for oxygen, would not appear to be an abbreviation. For example, the German word for Oxygen is "Sauerstoff".
Similarly with symbols for physical and mathematical constants. KN is universally known as a kilonewton, and R is universally known as the Gas constant.