Wonderful Life with the Elements

HOW TO EAT THE ELEMENTS

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= ELEMENTS IN OUR BODIES

Our bodies are also made of elements—about 34 different elements, actu-

ally. That means that over one third of all the elements we’ve looked at so

far are actually a part of us. It’s easy to think that elements exist only in the

outside world, but...

WE’RE ALL ELEMENT TREASURE HOUSES.

And among them are lots of elements that you might have thought you’d

never have anything to do with, like strontium or molybdenum. It might sur-

prise you to know that arsenic is one of them, too. Arsenic, which is almost

synonymous with poison, actually exists naturally within us. This is also true

for other unfamiliar elements like cadmium, beryllium, and radium. They’re

all a part of our bodies.

But of course elements are not created inside our bodies. They are all there

because we’ve eaten them at some point. Before that, they were part of

some other entity.

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THE ELEMENTS

INSIDE OUR

BODIES

CARBON NITROGEN OXYGEN FLUORINE

SODIUM MAGNESIUM ALUMINUM SILICON PHOSPHORUS SULFUR CHLORINE

POTASSIUM CALCIUM VANADIUM CHROMIUM MANGANESE IRON COBALT

NICKEL COPPER ZINC ARSENIC SELENIUM RUBIDIUM STRONTIUM

MOLYBDENUM CADMIUM TIN IODINE BARIUM MERCURY LEAD

HYDROGEN BORON

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The average human is made up of about 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, and

10% hydrogen.

WAIT A SECOND! THAT’S ALMOST 100%!

In reality, about 28 of those 34 elements don’t even amount to 1% of our

total mass. But just because these elements appear in tiny amounts doesn’t

mean they’re not important—quite the opposite! Even if only a tenth of a

percent of the elements in our bodies were to go missing, we’d be dead.

These low-volume but important elements are called trace elements, and

most of them are metals. The most important of these are called...

MINERALS.

Minerals are absolutely necessary to all living beings, including humans.

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ABUNDANT ELEMENTS

PHOSPHORUS

CARBON

SULFUR

POTASSIUM

SODIUM

CHLORINE

MAGNESIUM

IRON

FLUORINE

SILICON

ZINC

STRONTIUM

RUBIDIUM

LEAD

MANGANESE

COPPER

ALUMINUM

CADMIUM

TIN

BARIUM

MERCURY

SELENIUM

IODINE

MOLYBDENUM

NICKEL

BORON

CHROMIUM

ARSENIC

COBALT

VANADIUM

CALCIUM

NITROGEN

HYDROGEN

OXYGEN

= MINERALS

OTHERS

RARE

VERY RARE

ULTRA RARE