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The main elements that comprise the human body (including water) can be summarized as CHNOPS. Element Symbol percent mass percent atoms Oxygen O 65.0 24.0 Carbon C 18.5 12.0 Hydrogen H 9.5 62.0 Nitrogen N 2.6 1.1 Calcium Ca 1.3 0.22 Phosphorus P 0.6 0.22 Sulfur S 0.3 0.038 Potassium K 0.2 0.03 Sodium Na 0.2 0.037 Chlorine Cl 0.2 0.024 Magnesium Mg
A large fraction of the chemical elements that occur naturally on the Earth's surface are essential to the structure and metabolism of living things. Four of these elements (hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen) are essential to every living thing and collectively make up 99% of the mass of protoplasm. [1]
They further suggest that all of creation, including the human body, is made of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature. [26] The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of ...
Most biomolecules are organic compounds, and just four elements—oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen—make up 96% of the human body's mass. But many other elements, such as the various biometals , are also present in small amounts.
Democritus wrote that atoms and void are the only things that exist and that all other things are merely said to exist by social convention. [10] The objects humans see in everyday life are composed of many atoms united by random collisions and their forms and materials are determined by what kinds of atom make them up. [10]
Those who criticize the theory of social atomism believe that it neglects the idea of the individual as unique. The sociologist Elizabeth Wolgast asserts that, . From the atomistic standpoint, the individuals who make up a society are interchangeable like molecules in a bucket of water – society a mere aggregate of individuals.
The most important characteristics of carbon as a basis for the chemistry of cellular life are that each carbon atom is capable of forming up to four valence bonds with other atoms simultaneously, and that the energy required to make or break a bond with a carbon atom is at an appropriate level for building large and complex molecules which may ...
Atoms can attach to one or more other atoms by chemical bonds to form chemical compounds such as molecules or crystals. The ability of atoms to attach and detach from each other is responsible for most of the physical changes observed in nature. Chemistry is the science that studies these changes.