
Theabundance of the chemical elements is a measure of theoccurrences of thechemical elements relative to all other elements in a given environment. Abundance is measured in one of three ways: bymass fraction (in commercial contexts often calledweight fraction), bymole fraction (fraction of atoms by numerical count, or sometimes fraction of molecules in gases), or byvolume fraction. Volume fraction is a common abundance measure in mixed gases such as planetary atmospheres, and is similar in value to molecular mole fraction for gas mixtures at relatively low densities and pressures, andideal gas mixtures. Most abundance values in this article are given as mass fractions.
The abundance of chemical elements in the universe is dominated by the large amounts of hydrogen and helium which were produced duringBig Bang nucleosynthesis. Remaining elements, making up only about 2% of the universe, were largely produced bysupernova nucleosynthesis. Elements witheven atomic numbers are generally more common than their neighbors in theperiodic table, due to their favorable energetics of formation, described by theOddo–Harkins rule.
The abundance of elements in the Sun and outer planets is similar to that in the universe. Due to solar heating, the elements of Earth and the inner rocky planets of the Solar System have undergone an additional depletion ofvolatile hydrogen, helium, neon, nitrogen, and carbon (which volatilizes asmethane). The crust, mantle, and core of the Earth show evidence of chemical segregation plus some sequestration by density. Lighter silicates of aluminium are found in the crust, with more magnesium silicate in the mantle, while metallic iron and nickel compose the core. The abundance of elements in specialized environments, such as atmospheres, oceans, or the human body, are primarily a product of chemical interactions with the medium in which they reside.
Abundance of each element is expressed as a relative number. Astronomy uses alogarithmic scale for abundance of element X relative to hydrogen, defined byfor number density; on this scale.[1] Another scale ismass fraction or, equivalently, percent by mass.[2]
For example, the abundance ofoxygen inpure water can be measured in two ways: themass fraction is about 89%, because that is the fraction of water's mass which is oxygen. However, themole fraction is about 33% because only 1atom of 3 in water, H2O, is oxygen. As another example, looking at themass fraction abundance of hydrogen and helium in both theuniverse as a whole and in theatmospheres ofgas-giant planets such asJupiter, it is 74% forhydrogen and 23–25% forhelium; while the(atomic) mole fraction for hydrogen is 92%, and for helium is 8%, in these environments. Changing the given environment toJupiter's outer atmosphere, where hydrogen isdiatomic while helium is not, changes themolecular mole fraction (fraction of total gas molecules), as well as the fraction of atmosphere by volume, of hydrogen to about 86%, and of helium to 13%. Below Jupiter's outer atmosphere, volume fractions are significantly different from mole fractions due to high temperatures (ionization anddisproportionation) and high density, where theideal gas law is inapplicable.
| Z | Element | Mass fraction (ppm) | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hydrogen | 739,000 | 73.97% |
| 2 | Helium | 240,000 | 24.02% |
| 8 | Oxygen | 10,400 | 1.04% |
| 6 | Carbon | 4,600 | 0.46% |
| 10 | Neon | 1,340 | 0.13% |
| 26 | Iron | 1,090 | 0.11% |
| 7 | Nitrogen | 960 | 0.1% |
| 14 | Silicon | 650 | 0.07% |
| 12 | Magnesium | 580 | 0.06% |
| 16 | Sulfur | 440 | 0.04% |
| Total | 999,060 |
The abundance of chemical elements in the universe is dominated by the large amounts of hydrogen and helium which were produced duringBig Bang nucleosynthesis. Remaining elements, making up only about 2% of the universe, were largely produced bysupernovae and certainred giant stars.Lithium,beryllium, andboron, despite their low atomic number, are rare because, although they are produced by nuclear fusion, they are destroyed by other reactions in the stars.[4][5] Their natural occurrence is the result ofcosmic ray spallation of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen in a type of nuclear fission reaction. The elements from carbon to iron are relatively more abundant in the universe because of the ease of making them insupernova nucleosynthesis. Elements of higher atomic numbers than iron (element 26) become progressively rarer in the universe, because they increasingly absorb stellar energy in their production. Also, elements witheven atomic numbers are generally more common than their neighbors in theperiodic table, due to favorable energetics of formation (seeOddo–Harkins rule), and among the lightest nuclides helium through sulfur the most abundant isotopes of equal number of protons and neutrons.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe;helium is second. All others are orders of magnitude less common. After this, the rank of abundance does not continue to correspond to theatomic number.Oxygen has abundance rank 3, but atomic number 8.
There are 80 knownstable elements, and the lightest 16 comprise 99.9% of the ordinary matter of the universe. These same 16 elements, hydrogen through sulfur, fall on the initial linear portion of thetable of nuclides (also calledtheSegrè plot), a plot of the proton versus neutron numbers of all matter both ordinary and exotic, containing hundreds of stable isotopes and thousands more that are unstable. The Segrè plot is initially linear because (aside from hydrogen) the vast majority of ordinary matter (99.4% in the Solar System[6]) contains an equal number of protons and neutrons (Z=N).
The abundance of the lightest elements is well predicted by thestandard cosmological model, since they were mostly produced shortly (i.e., within a few hundred seconds) after the Big Bang, in a process known asBig Bang nucleosynthesis. Heavier elements were mostly produced much later, instellar nucleosynthesis.
Hydrogen and helium are estimated to make up roughly 74% and 24% of all baryonic matter in the universe respectively. Despite comprising only a very small fraction of the universe, the remaining "heavy elements" can greatly influence astronomical phenomena. Only about 2% (by mass) of theMilky Way galaxy's disk is composed of heavy elements.
These other elements are generated by stellar processes.[7][8][9] In astronomy, a "metal" is any element other than hydrogen or helium. This distinction is significant because hydrogen and helium are the only elements that were produced in significant quantities in the Big Bang. Thus, themetallicity of agalaxy or other object is an indication of stellar activity after the Big Bang.
In general, elements up toiron are made by large stars in the process of becomingsupernovae, or by smaller stars in the process of dying.Iron-56 is particularly common, since it is the most stable nuclide (in that it has the highest nuclear binding energy per nucleon) and can easily be "built up" fromalpha particles (being a product of decay of radioactivenickel-56, ultimately made from 14 helium nuclei). Elements heavier than iron are made in energy-absorbing processes in large stars, and their abundance in the universe (and on Earth) generally decreases with increasing atomic number.
The table shows the ten most common elements in our galaxy (estimatedspectroscopically), as measured in parts per million, by mass.[3]Nearby galaxies that have evolved along similar lines have a corresponding enrichment of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. The more distant galaxies are being viewed as theyappeared in the past, so their abundances of elements appear closer to the primordial mixture. Since physical laws and processes are apparently uniform throughout the universe, however, it is expected that these galaxies will likewise have evolved similar abundances of elements.
As shown in theperiodic table, the abundance of elements is in keeping with their origin. Very abundant hydrogen and helium are products of the Big Bang. The next three elements in the periodic table (lithium,beryllium, andboron) are rare, despite their low atomic number. They had little time to form in the Big Bang. They are produced in small quantities by nuclear fusion in dying stars or by breakup of heavier elements in interstellar dust, caused bycosmic ray spallation. Insupernova stars, they are produced by nuclear fusion, but then destroyed by other reactions.[4]
Heavier elements, beginning withcarbon, have been produced in dying or supernova stars by buildup fromalpha particles (helium nuclei), contributing to an alternatingly larger abundance of elements with even atomic numbers (these are also more stable). The effect of odd-numbered chemical elements generally being more rare in the universe was empirically noticed in 1914, and is known as theOddo–Harkins rule.The following graph (log scale) shows abundance of elements in theSolar System.
| Nuclide | A | Mass fraction in parts per million | Atom fraction in parts per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrogen-1 | 1 | 705,700 | 909,964 |
| Helium-4 | 4 | 275,200 | 88,714 |
| Oxygen-16 | 16 | 9,592 | 774 |
| Carbon-12 | 12 | 3,032 | 326 |
| Nitrogen-14 | 14 | 1,105 | 102 |
| Neon-20 | 20 | 1,548 | 100 |
![]() | |||
| Other nuclides: | 3,616 | 172 | |
| Silicon-28 | 28 | 653 | 30 |
| Magnesium-24 | 24 | 513 | 28 |
| Iron-56 | 56 | 1,169 | 27 |
| Sulfur-32 | 32 | 396 | 16 |
| Helium-3 | 3 | 35 | 15 |
| Hydrogen-2 | 2 | 23 | 15 |
| Neon-22 | 22 | 208 | 12 |
| Magnesium-26 | 26 | 79 | 4 |
| Carbon-13 | 13 | 37 | 4 |
| Magnesium-25 | 25 | 69 | 4 |
| Aluminium-27 | 27 | 58 | 3 |
| Argon-36 | 36 | 77 | 3 |
| Calcium-40 | 40 | 60 | 2 |
| Sodium-23 | 23 | 33 | 2 |
| Iron-54 | 54 | 72 | 2 |
| Silicon-29 | 29 | 34 | 2 |
| Nickel-58 | 58 | 49 | 1 |
| Silicon-30 | 30 | 23 | 1 |
| Iron-57 | 57 | 28 | 1 |
Loose correlations have been observed between estimated elemental abundances in the universe and thenuclear binding energy curve (also called thebinding energy per nucleon). Roughly speaking, the relative stability of various atomic nuclides in withstanding the extremely energetic conditions ofBig Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) has exerted a strong influence on the relative abundance of elements formed in the Big Bang, and during the development of the universe thereafter.[10]See the article aboutnucleosynthesis for an explanation of how certainnuclear fusion processes in stars (such ascarbon burning, etc.) create the elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.
A further observed peculiarity is the jagged alternation between relative abundance and scarcity of adjacent atomic numbers in the estimated abundances of the chemical elements in which the relative abundance of even atomic numbers is roughly 2 orders of magnitude greater than the relative abundance of odd atomic numbers (Oddo–Harkins rule). A similar alternation between even and odd atomic numbers can be observed in thenuclear binding energy curve in the neighborhood of carbon and oxygen, but here the loose correlation between relative abundance and binding energy ends. The binding energy for beryllium (an even atomic number), for example, isless than the binding energy for boron (an odd atomic number), as illustrated in the nuclear binding energy curve. Additionally, the alternation in the nuclear binding energy between even and odd atomic numbers resolves above oxygen as the graph increases steadily up to its peak at iron. Thesemi-empirical mass formula (SEMF), also calledWeizsäcker's formula or theBethe-Weizsäcker mass formula, gives a theoretical explanation of the overall shape of the curve of nuclear binding energy.[11]
Modern astronomy relies on understanding the abundance of elements in the Sun as part of cosmological models. Abundance values are difficult to obtain: even photospheric or observational abundances depend upon models of solar atmospherics and radiation coupling.[12] These astronomical abundance values are reported as logarithms of the ratio with hydrogen. Hydrogen is set to an abundance of 12 on this scale.
The Sun'sphotosphere consists mostly of hydrogen and helium; the helium abundance varies between about 10.3 and 10.5 depending on the phase of thesolar cycle;[13] carbon is 8.47, neon is 8.29, oxygen is 7.69[14] and iron is estimated at 7.62.[15]

TheEarth formed from thesame cloud of matter that formed the Sun, but the planets acquired different compositions during theformation and evolution of the Solar System. In turn, thehistory of Earth led to parts of the planet having differing concentrations of the elements.
The mass of the Earth is approximately 5.97×1024 kg. By mass, it is composed mostly ofiron (32.1%),oxygen (30.1%),silicon (15.1%),magnesium (13.9%),sulfur (2.9%),nickel (1.8%),calcium (1.5%), andaluminium (1.4%); with the remaining 1.2% consisting of trace amounts of other elements.[16]
The bulk composition of the Earth by elemental mass is roughly similar to the gross composition of the solar system, with the major differences being that Earth is missing a great deal of thevolatile elements hydrogen, helium, neon, and nitrogen, as well as carbon which has been lost as volatilehydrocarbons.
The remaining elemental composition is roughly typical of the "rocky"inner planets, which formed "inside" the "frost line" close to the Sun, where the young Sun's heat andstellar wind drove off volatile compounds into space.
The Earth retains oxygen as the second-largest component of its mass (and largest atomic fraction), mainly due to oxygen's high reactivity; this caused it to bond intosilicate minerals which have a high melting point and low vapor pressure.
| Atomic number | Name | Symbol | Mass fraction (ppm)[17] | Atomic fraction (ppb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | oxygen | O | 297,000 | 482,000,000 |
| 12 | magnesium | Mg | 154,000 | 164,000,000 |
| 14 | silicon | Si | 161,000 | 150,000,000 |
| 26 | iron | Fe | 319,000 | 148,000,000 |
| 13 | aluminium | Al | 15,900 | 15,300,000 |
| 20 | calcium | Ca | 17,100 | 11,100,000 |
| 28 | nickel | Ni | 18,220 | 8,010,000 |
| 1 | hydrogen | H | 260 | 6,700,000 |
| 16 | sulfur | S | 6,350 | 5,150,000 |
| 24 | chromium | Cr | 4,700 | 2,300,000 |
| 11 | sodium | Na | 1,800 | 2,000,000 |
| 6 | carbon | C | 730 | 1,600,000 |
| 15 | phosphorus | P | 1,210 | 1,020,000 |
| 25 | manganese | Mn | 1,700 | 800,000 |
| 22 | titanium | Ti | 810 | 440,000 |
| 27 | cobalt | Co | 880 | 390,000 |
| 19 | potassium | K | 160 | 110,000 |
| 17 | chlorine | Cl | 76 | 56,000 |
| 23 | vanadium | V | 105 | 53,600 |
| 7 | nitrogen | N | 25 | 46,000 |
| 29 | copper | Cu | 60 | 25,000 |
| 30 | zinc | Zn | 40 | 16,000 |
| 9 | fluorine | F | 10 | 14,000 |
| 21 | scandium | Sc | 11 | 6,300 |
| 3 | lithium | Li | 1.10 | 4,100 |
| 38 | strontium | Sr | 13 | 3,900 |
| 32 | germanium | Ge | 7.00 | 2,500 |
| 40 | zirconium | Zr | 7.10 | 2,000 |
| 31 | gallium | Ga | 3.00 | 1,000 |
| 34 | selenium | Se | 2.70 | 890 |
| 56 | barium | Ba | 4.50 | 850 |
| 39 | yttrium | Y | 2.90 | 850 |
| 33 | arsenic | As | 1.70 | 590 |
| 5 | boron | B | 0.20 | 480 |
| 42 | molybdenum | Mo | 1.70 | 460 |
| 44 | ruthenium | Ru | 1.30 | 330 |
| 78 | platinum | Pt | 1.90 | 250 |
| 46 | palladium | Pd | 1.00 | 240 |
| 58 | cerium | Ce | 1.13 | 210 |
| 60 | neodymium | Nd | 0.84 | 150 |
| 4 | beryllium | Be | 0.05 | 140 |
| 41 | niobium | Nb | 0.44 | 120 |
| 76 | osmium | Os | 0.90 | 120 |
| 77 | iridium | Ir | 0.90 | 120 |
| 37 | rubidium | Rb | 0.40 | 120 |
| 35 | bromine | Br | 0.30 | 97 |
| 57 | lanthanum | La | 0.44 | 82 |
| 66 | dysprosium | Dy | 0.46 | 74 |
| 64 | gadolinium | Gd | 0.37 | 61 |
| 52 | tellurium | Te | 0.30 | 61 |
| 45 | rhodium | Rh | 0.24 | 61 |
| 50 | tin | Sn | 0.25 | 55 |
| 62 | samarium | Sm | 0.27 | 47 |
| 68 | erbium | Er | 0.30 | 47 |
| 70 | ytterbium | Yb | 0.30 | 45 |
| 59 | praseodymium | Pr | 0.17 | 31 |
| 82 | lead | Pb | 0.23 | 29 |
| 72 | hafnium | Hf | 0.19 | 28 |
| 74 | tungsten | W | 0.17 | 24 |
| 79 | gold | Au | 0.16 | 21 |
| 48 | cadmium | Cd | 0.08 | 18 |
| 63 | europium | Eu | 0.10 | 17 |
| 67 | holmium | Ho | 0.10 | 16 |
| 47 | silver | Ag | 0.05 | 12 |
| 65 | terbium | Tb | 0.07 | 11 |
| 51 | antimony | Sb | 0.05 | 11 |
| 75 | rhenium | Re | 0.08 | 10 |
| 53 | iodine | I | 0.05 | 10 |
| 69 | thulium | Tm | 0.05 | 7 |
| 55 | caesium | Cs | 0.04 | 7 |
| 71 | lutetium | Lu | 0.05 | 7 |
| 90 | thorium | Th | 0.06 | 6 |
| 73 | tantalum | Ta | 0.03 | 4 |
| 80 | mercury | Hg | 0.02 | 3 |
| 92 | uranium | U | 0.02 | 2 |
| 49 | indium | In | 0.01 | 2 |
| 81 | thallium | Tl | 0.01 | 2 |
| 83 | bismuth | Bi | 0.01 | 1 |

The mass-abundance of the nine most abundant elements in the Earth's crust is roughly: oxygen 46%, silicon 28%, aluminium 8.3%, iron 5.6%, calcium 4.2%, sodium 2.5%, magnesium 2.4%, potassium 2.0%, and titanium 0.61%. Other elements occur at less than 0.15%. For a full list, seeabundance of elements in Earth's crust.
The graph at right illustrates the relative atomic-abundance of the chemical elements in Earth's upper continental crust—the part that is relatively accessible for measurements and estimation.
Many of the elements shown in the graph are classified into (partially overlapping) categories:
There are two breaks where the unstable elementstechnetium (atomic number 43) andpromethium (number 61) would be. These elements are surrounded by stable elements, yet their most stable isotopes have relatively short half-lives (~4 million years and ~18 years respectively). These are thus extremely rare, since any primordial amounts of these elements have long since decayed. These two elements are now only produced naturally throughspontaneous fission of very heavyradioactive elements (such asuranium,thorium, or the trace amounts ofplutonium that exist in uranium ores), or by the interaction of certain other elements withcosmic rays. Both technetium and promethium have been identified spectroscopically in the atmospheres of stars, where they are produced by ongoing nucleosynthetic processes.
There are also breaks in the abundance graph where the sixnoble gases would be, since they are not chemically bound in the Earth's crust, and so their crustal abundance is not well-defined.
The eight naturally occurring very rare, highly radioactive elements (polonium,astatine,francium,radium,actinium,protactinium,neptunium, andplutonium) are not included, since any of these elements that were present at the formation of the Earth have decayed eons ago, and their quantity today is negligible and is only produced fromradioactive decay of uranium and thorium.
Oxygen andsilicon are the most common elements in the crust. On Earth and rocky planets in general, silicon and oxygen are far more common than their cosmic abundance. The reason is that they combine with each other to formsilicate minerals.[18] Other cosmically common elements such ashydrogen,carbon andnitrogen form volatile compounds such asammonia andmethane that easily boil away into space from the heat of planetary formation and/or the Sun's light.
"Rare" earth elements is a historical misnomer. The persistence of the term reflects unfamiliarity rather than true rarity. The more abundantrare earth elements are similarly concentrated in the crust compared to commonplace industrial metals such as chromium, nickel, copper, zinc, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, or lead. The two least abundant stable rare earth elements (thulium andlutetium) are nearly 200 times more common thangold. However, in contrast to the ordinary base and precious metals, rare earth elements have very little tendency to become concentrated in exploitable ore deposits. Consequently, most of the world's supply of rare earth elements comes from only a handful of sources. Furthermore, the rare earth metals are all quite chemically similar to each other, and they are thus quite difficult to separate into quantities of the pure elements.
Differences in abundances of individual rare earth elements in the upper continental crust of the Earth represent the superposition of two effects, one nuclear and one geochemical. First, the rare earth elements with even atomic numbers (58Ce,60Nd, ...) have greater cosmic and terrestrial abundances than the adjacent rare earth elements with odd atomic numbers (57La,59Pr, ...). Second, the lighter rare earth elements are more incompatible (because they have larger ionic radii) and therefore more strongly concentrated in the continental crust than the heavier rare earth elements. In most rare earth ore deposits, the first four rare earth elements –lanthanum,cerium,praseodymium, andneodymium – constitute 80% to 99% of the total amount of rare earth metal that can be found in the ore.
The mass-abundance of the seven most abundant elements in the Earth's mantle is approximately: oxygen 44.3%, magnesium 22.3%, silicon 21.3%, iron 6.32%, calcium 2.48%, aluminium 2.29%, nickel 0.19%.[19]
Due tomass segregation, the core of the Earth is believed to be primarily composed of iron (88.8%), with smaller amounts of nickel (5.8%), sulfur (4.5%), and less than 1% trace elements.[6]
The most abundant elements in the ocean by proportion of mass in percent are oxygen (85.84%), hydrogen (10.82%), chlorine (1.94%), sodium (1.08%), magnesium (0.13%), sulfur (0.09%), calcium (0.04%), potassium (0.04%), bromine (0.007%), carbon (0.003%), and boron (0.0004%).
The order of elements by volume fraction (which is approximately molecular mole fraction) in theatmosphere isnitrogen (78.1%),oxygen (20.9%),[20]argon (0.96%), followed by (in uncertain order) carbon and hydrogen because water vapor and carbon dioxide, which represent most of these two elements in the air, are variable components. Sulfur, phosphorus, and all other elements are present in significantly lower proportions.
According to the abundance curve graph, argon, a significant if not major component of the atmosphere, does not appear in the crust at all. This is because the atmosphere has a far smaller mass than the crust, so argon remaining in the crust contributes little to mass fraction there, while at the same time buildup of argon in the atmosphere has become large enough to be significant.
For a complete list of the abundance of elements in urban soils, seeAbundances of the elements (data page)#Urban soils.
| Element | Proportion (by mass) |
|---|---|
| Oxygen | 65 |
| Carbon | 18 |
| Hydrogen | 10 |
| Nitrogen | 3 |
| Calcium | 1.5 |
| Phosphorus | 1.2 |
| Potassium | 0.2 |
| Sulfur | 0.2 |
| Chlorine | 0.2 |
| Sodium | 0.1 |
| Magnesium | 0.05 |
| Iron | < 0.05 |
| Cobalt | < 0.05 |
| Copper | < 0.05 |
| Zinc | < 0.05 |
| Iodine | < 0.05 |
| Selenium | < 0.01 |

By mass, human cells consist of 65–90% water (H2O), and a significant portion of the remainder is composed of carbon-containing organic molecules. Oxygen therefore contributes a majority of a human body's mass, followed by carbon. Almost 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of six elements:hydrogen (H),carbon (C),nitrogen (N),oxygen (O),calcium (Ca), andphosphorus (P).[21] The next 0.75% is made up of the next five elements:potassium (K),sulfur (S),chlorine (Cl),sodium (Na), andmagnesium (Mg). Only 17 elements are known for certain to be necessary to human life, with one additional element (fluorine) thought to be helpful for tooth enamel strength. A few moretrace elements may play some role in the health of mammals.Boron andsilicon are notably necessary for plants but have uncertain roles in animals. The elements aluminium and silicon, although very common in the earth's crust, are conspicuously rare in the human body.[22]
Below is a periodic table highlighting nutritional elements.[23]
| Essential elements[24][25][21] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H | He | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Li | Be | B | C | N | O | F | Ne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Na | Mg | Al | Si | P | S | Cl | Ar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| K | Ca | Sc | Ti | V | Cr | Mn | Fe | Co | Ni | Cu | Zn | Ga | Ge | As | Se | Br | Kr | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rb | Sr | Y | Zr | Nb | Mo | Tc | Ru | Rh | Pd | Ag | Cd | In | Sn | Sb | Te | I | Xe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cs | Ba | * | Lu | Hf | Ta | W | Re | Os | Ir | Pt | Au | Hg | Tl | Pb | Bi | Po | At | Rn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fr | Ra | ** | Lr | Rf | Db | Sg | Bh | Hs | Mt | Ds | Rg | Cn | Nh | Fl | Mc | Lv | Ts | Og | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * | La | Ce | Pr | Nd | Pm | Sm | Eu | Gd | Tb | Dy | Ho | Er | Tm | Yb | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ** | Ac | Th | Pa | U | Np | Pu | Am | Cm | Bk | Cf | Es | Fm | Md | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Legend: Quantity elements Essentialtrace elements Essentiality or function in mammals debated No evidence for biological action in mammals, but essential or beneficial in some organisms In the case of thelanthanides, the definition of an essential nutrient as being indispensable and irreplaceable is not completely applicable due to their extreme chemical similarity. The stable early lanthanides La–Nd are known to stimulate the growth of various lanthanide-using organisms, and Sm–Gd show lesser effects for some such organisms. The later elements in the lanthanide series do not appear to have such effects.[26] |
Correlations between abundance and nuclear binding energy [Subsection title]