human body made from which things
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Almost 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Only about 0.85% is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All 11 are necessary for life.
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The human body contains around 20 different elements, mostly made inside ancient stars. If you deconstructed an 80kg human into atoms, you would get about the following amounts of the different elements:
Oxygen – 52kg
This element makes up more than half the mass of your body but only a quarter of its atoms.
Carbon – 14.4kg
The most important structural element, and the reason we are known as carbon-based life forms. About 12 per cent of your body’s atoms are carbon.
Hydrogen – 8kg
The hydrogen atoms in your body were formed in the Big Bang. All the others were made inside a star long ago and were flung into space by a supernova explosion. So though you may have heard that we are all stardust, that isn’t strictly true.
Nitrogen – 2.4kg
The four most abundant elements in the human body – hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen – account for more than 99 per cent of the atoms inside you. They are found throughout your body, mostly as water but also as components of biomolecules such as proteins, fats, DNA and carbohydrates.
Calcium – 1.12kg
Phosphorus – 880g
Sulphur – 200g
Potassium – 200g
Sodium – 120g
Chlorine – 120g
Magnesium – 40g
Magnesium is a key component of superoxide dismutase, one of the most important detoxification enzymes.
Iron – 4.8g
Found in haem, the oxygen-carrying part of the haemoglobin molecule inside red blood cells
Fluorine – 3.0g
Hardens the teeth, though fluorine is not considered essential to life.
Zinc – 2.6 g
Strontium – 0.37g
Strontium is found almost exclusively in bones, where it may have a benefcial effect on growth and density.
Iodine 0.0128 g
Iodine is an essential component of the thyroid hormone thyroxine. Iodine is the heaviest element required by the human body.
Copper – 0.08g
Copper is a component of many enzymes. Copper deficiency causes neurological and blood disorders.
Manganese – 0.0136 g
Molybdenum – 0.0104 g
Oxygen – 52kg
This element makes up more than half the mass of your body but only a quarter of its atoms.
Carbon – 14.4kg
The most important structural element, and the reason we are known as carbon-based life forms. About 12 per cent of your body’s atoms are carbon.
Hydrogen – 8kg
The hydrogen atoms in your body were formed in the Big Bang. All the others were made inside a star long ago and were flung into space by a supernova explosion. So though you may have heard that we are all stardust, that isn’t strictly true.
Nitrogen – 2.4kg
The four most abundant elements in the human body – hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen – account for more than 99 per cent of the atoms inside you. They are found throughout your body, mostly as water but also as components of biomolecules such as proteins, fats, DNA and carbohydrates.
Calcium – 1.12kg
Phosphorus – 880g
Sulphur – 200g
Potassium – 200g
Sodium – 120g
Chlorine – 120g
Magnesium – 40g
Magnesium is a key component of superoxide dismutase, one of the most important detoxification enzymes.
Iron – 4.8g
Found in haem, the oxygen-carrying part of the haemoglobin molecule inside red blood cells
Fluorine – 3.0g
Hardens the teeth, though fluorine is not considered essential to life.
Zinc – 2.6 g
Strontium – 0.37g
Strontium is found almost exclusively in bones, where it may have a benefcial effect on growth and density.
Iodine 0.0128 g
Iodine is an essential component of the thyroid hormone thyroxine. Iodine is the heaviest element required by the human body.
Copper – 0.08g
Copper is a component of many enzymes. Copper deficiency causes neurological and blood disorders.
Manganese – 0.0136 g
Molybdenum – 0.0104 g
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