Which elements of the human body are found elsewhere?

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
5 replies · 7K views
MathJakob
Messages
161
Reaction score
5
Carbon (18%)
Hydrogen (10%)
Nitrogen (3%)
Calcium (1.5%)
Phosphorus (1.0%)
Potassium (0.35%)
Sulfur (0.25%)
Sodium (0.15%)
Magnesium (0.05%)
Copper, Zinc, Selenium, Molybdenum, Fluorine, Chlorine, Iodine, Manganese, Cobalt, Iron (0.70%)
Lithium, Strontium, Aluminum, Silicon, Lead, Vanadium, Arsenic, Bromine (trace amounts)

Obviously I know all of these are found naturally on Earth, but which of them exist in space or on other planets? Which of them are found in gas clouds and meteorites ect?

I know hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and iron are found in gas cloud and the cores of planets, but what else?
 
Chemistry news on Phys.org
I am not sure what your question is. From all we know all these elements are present in all the Universe. In different ratios, as what we see on Earth is a product of processes that concentrated heavier elements, but they are all everywhere.
 
Borek said:
I am not sure what your question is. From all we know all these elements are present in all the Universe. In different ratios, as what we see on Earth is a product of processes that concentrated heavier elements, but they are all everywhere.

Well what I mean is, has magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium ect been found anywhere else apart from on Earth?

To put it simply, does the stuff that makes up gas clouds, meteorites and space dust share any common elements that the human body has?
 
MathJakob said:
To put it simply, does the stuff that makes up gas clouds, meteorites and space dust share any common elements that the human body has?

All of them! Apart from hydrogen, a small amount of helium, and a tiny bit of lithium, which were formed following the Big Bang, all other elements were created in stars or during supernovae. See the Wikipedia article on nucleosynthesis to learn more.
 
DrClaude said:
All of them! Apart from hydrogen, a small amount of helium, and a tiny bit of lithium, which were formed following the Big Bang, all other elements were created in stars or during supernovae. See the Wikipedia article on nucleosynthesis to learn more.

So we are quite literally star dust? Humbling to know.
 
MathJakob said:
So we are quite literally star dust?

Yes.

Adds a perspective, doesn't it?