Average Atomic mass of the human body?

[Chaos' lil bro Order]

I was wondering average atomic mass is of a fully grown male human. What I mean by this is, if we consider the human body to be comprised of mainly Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and other trace elements like Calcium, Sodium, Phosphorus, etc. Is it possible to determine an estimate about what the mass of the average atom is in our body? I'm guessing it would be about as heavy as carbon, but maybe less since hydrogen is very prevalent biologically.

My guess is the mass of the average atom in the human body is A = 10. Has anyone ever done a study of this, or is it too difficult to ascertain the proportions of atoms in our body? hmmm...

 

[Gokul43201]

Here you go: http://web2.airmail.net/uthman/elements_of_body.html

 

[chroot]

Oooh. I'm carryin' around almost two pounds of phosphorus, am I? Surprising.

- Warren

 

[Chaos' lil bro Order]

Fantastic link, ty.

Given the values cited, I'd estimate an average atom is about A =12, or carbon.

Ya the nearly 1kg of Phosphorus is surprising to me too. Besides adenosine triphosphate, adenosine diphosphate and hyrogen phosphate, I can't think of any other bio molecules it would be found in. Anyone want to add to this list?

 

[Gokul43201]

Ya the nearly 1kg of Phosphorus is surprising to me too. Besides adenosine triphosphate, adenosine diphosphate and hyrogen phosphate, I can't think of any other bio molecules it would be found in. Anyone want to add to this list?

Your bones are mostly calcium phosphate. That's where I'd guess the majority of the phosphorus comes from.

 

[Chaos' lil bro Order]

Interesting.

 

[kmarinas86]

http://www.google.com/search?q=170+pounds+in+amu

I'm 5*10^28 amu. There are more amu in me than grams in the earth.

Check this out:

http://www.google.com/search?q=1/amu+in+g^-1

 

[DaveC426913]

I couldn't resist adding it to my list of http://www.davesbrain.ca/bio_davesatoms.php" .

 

[Rade]

DNA, RNA, NAD, NADP are all important and common cellular molecules that contain phosphorus.

 

[Chaos' lil bro Order]

I couldn't resist adding it to my list of http://www.davesbrain.ca/bio_davesatoms.php" .

That is a very nice picture dave, you have a keen eye for displaying information in a clean and intuitive manner. When I have time I'll read more on your site.