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The order of elements by volume fraction (which is approximately molecular mole fraction) in the atmosphere is nitrogen (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 ...
Helium is the smallest and the lightest noble gas and one of the most unreactive elements, so it was commonly considered that helium compounds cannot exist at all, or at least under normal conditions. [1] Helium's first ionization energy of 24.57 eV is the highest of any element. [2]
The Moon's surface contains helium-3 at concentrations on the order of 10 ppb, much higher than the approximately 5 ppt found in the Earth's atmosphere. [ 117 ] [ 118 ] A number of people, starting with Gerald Kulcinski in 1986, [ 119 ] have proposed to explore the Moon, mine lunar regolith, and use the helium-3 for fusion .
Triatomic hydrogen, H 3, is unstable and breaks up spontaneously. H 3 +, the trihydrogen cation is stable by itself and is symmetric. 4 He 3, the helium trimer is only weakly bound by van der Waals force and is in an Efimov state. [1] Trisulfur (S 3) is analogous to ozone.
By some definitions, "organic" compounds are only required to contain carbon. However, most of them also contain hydrogen, and because it is the carbon-hydrogen bond that gives this class of compounds most of its particular chemical characteristics, carbon-hydrogen bonds are required in some definitions of the word "organic" in chemistry. [87]
Oxygen is the third most abundant chemical element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium. [68] About 0.9% of the Sun's mass is oxygen. [19] Oxygen constitutes 49.2% of the Earth's crust by mass [69] as part of oxide compounds such as silicon dioxide and is the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust.
The reason is that there is no primordial helium in the atmosphere; due to the small mass of the atom, helium cannot be retained by the Earth's gravitational field. [71] Helium on Earth comes from the alpha decay of heavy elements such as uranium and thorium found in the Earth's crust, and tends to accumulate in natural gas deposits. [71]
Carbon-carbon bonds are strong and stable. Through catenation, carbon forms a countless number of compounds. A tally of unique compounds shows that more contain carbon than do not. [88] A similar claim can be made for hydrogen because most organic compounds contain hydrogen chemically bonded to carbon or another common element like oxygen or ...