This table lists some abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols encountered in the physical sciences. Most entries in italic type are symbols for physical quantities; for more details on these, see the table “Symbols and Terminology for Physical and Chemical Quantities” in this section. Additional information on units may be found in the table “International System of Units (SI)” in Section 1. Many of the terms to which these abbreviations refer are included in the tables “Definitions of Scientific Terms” in Section 2 of the Online Edition and “Techniques for Materials Characterization” in Section 12, in both the Print Edition and Online Edition of the CRC Handbook. Useful references for further information are given below.
Publication practices vary with regard to the use of capital or lowercase letters for many abbreviations. An effort has been made to follow the most common practices in this table, but much variation is found in the literature. Likewise, policies on the use of periods in an abbreviation vary considerably. Periods are generally omitted in this table unless they are necessary for clarity. Periods should never appear in SI units. The SI prefixes (m, k, M, etc.) are included here, but they should never be used alone. Selected combinations of these prefixes with SI units (e.g., mg, kV, MW) are also included.
Abbreviations are listed in alphabetical order without regard to case. Entries beginning with Greek letters fall at the end of the table.
Symbol | Meaning |
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A | ampere; alanine; adenine (in genetic code) |
Å | ångström |
A | absorbance; area; Helmholtz energy; mass number |
AH | Hall coefficient |
Ar | atomic weight (relative atomic mass) |
a | atto (SI prefix for 10–18) |
a | absorption coefficient; acceleration; activity; van der Waals constant |
a0 | Bohr radius |
AAA | acetoacetanilide |
Aad | 2-aminoadipic acid |
AAF | 2-(acetylamino)fluorene |
AAN | aminoacetonitrile |
AAO | acetaldehyde oxime |
AAS | atomic absorption spectroscopy |
ABA | abscisic acid; acrylonitrile-butadiene acrylate |
Abe | abequose |
ABL | α-acetylbutyrolactone |
ABS | acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer |
abs | absolute |