Here is todays brain stretcher on the subject of Chemistry:
Which element is the most common in the normal Human body
As always, fastest fingers first, the only trick is it needs thought, but it gives you something to do in the AM.
2006-08-27 21:23:16 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
You are all too fast,
Oxygen in Water and attached to Haemoglobin is the most common element in the Human Body, and by percent it is (as was correctly cut and paste from Wikipedia) 65% of the bodies make up.
Water accounts for most of this makeup, but Water is a compound and I asked for water.
Well, you have all proven you know your stuff, but it is much regret to say tomorrow is the last quisser. Tune in the morrow.
2006-08-28 03:41:06 · update #1
Oxygen is the most abundant element in the earth’s crust and makes up about 20 per cent of the air we breathe. Oxygen is essential to life, and without it we would suffocate. It mixes with sugars in the body, breaking them down to the carbon dioxide we breath out, water, and energy to keep us warm and moving. It is the most common element in the human body. Water contains oxygen as the second element, in addition to hydrogen. It makes up a large fraction of many minerals and rocks. In it's natural state it is a gas. Being two places away from the stable noble gasses makes it work very hard to combine with other matter. It will react with almost anything. It turns iron to rust.
Moreover, Water is not an element as answered by some answerers above. It is a compound
2006-08-27 21:30:09 · answer #1 · answered by smart 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As usual you have left the question somewhat vague. You could mean by weight, you could mean by volume, or you could mean by number of atoms. Personally I think that the wording of the question requires the answer to be the "number of atoms".
As has been correctly identified by a number of answers, a very high percentage of our body is composed of water, therefore the two contenders are oxygen and hydrogen. An oxygen atom is several times the volume of a hydrogen atom, so the element with the greatest volume would be oxygen. There is also 8 times the mass of oxygen in a water molecule as hydrogen, so by mass the answer would also be oxygen. However, since there are twice as many hydrogen atoms in a water molecule as oxygen, then the winner by number of atoms is hydrogen.
2006-08-27 22:06:06 · answer #2 · answered by Graham I 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sorry would just like to say.
WATER IS NOT AN ELEMENT!!!! Neither is blood as someone else answered.
I would probably have to to say Hydrogen assuming we are going by number of atoms. 2 hydrogens to 1 oxygen in water folks. Also most of the carbons and nitrogens in our bodies are attached to 1 or more hydrogen atom. If we are going by mass then probably oxygen considering the percentage water in our bodies and the fact oxygen makes up 16/18 er 8/9ths of the mass of water.
2006-08-28 01:31:28 · answer #3 · answered by Ellie 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because the body is mostly water, it is oxygen.
...and here is the list so we all know :
Most of the human body is made up of water, H2O, with cells consisting of 65-90% water by weight. Therefore, it isn't surprising that most of a human body's mass is oxygen. Carbon, the basic unit for organic molecules, comes in second. 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of just six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus
Oxygen (65%)
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)
2006-08-27 21:26:10 · answer #4 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water
2006-08-27 22:00:04 · answer #5 · answered by RNM 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Oxygen
2006-08-28 00:36:46 · answer #6 · answered by hanna 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We are a carbon based being, but every carbon holds onto 4 things, most of them hydrogen. Our body is mostly water, H2O so again hydrogen. It depends on whether you are going by weight or numbers. By number of atoms Hydrogen wins. Because it is the lightest element it does not win by weight,
2006-08-28 02:09:49 · answer #7 · answered by science teacher 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
ok water - 2 hydrogen atoms to 1 oxygen, if we count quantity and not atomic weight
plus organic matter (not what you buy from sainsbury's LOL) - they all have H as well
I stake on hydrogen! Your bets, folks? ;)
BTW, women's bodies contain more gold and mercury than men's. I'd like to look at the nutter who cared to count!!
2006-08-27 23:52:35 · answer #8 · answered by Faith * 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Morning squire.
I believe its water, and water is an element so H2O.
2006-08-27 21:34:51 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Is this something to do with the periodic table? Well i lost mine so i'll just say carbon, we're carbon based, got loads of it, you want some?
2006-08-27 21:31:29 · answer #10 · answered by roooof 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋