• Question: How many different types of atoms are in the human body?

    Asked by crouchingmurloc to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 18 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Ed Lowe

      Ed Lowe answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Lots! The most common are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and sulphur (in proteins) and phosphorous (in DNA and RNA). Then there are a huge range of metals present to a greater or lesser extent – iron, zinc, calcium, sodium and potassium are all common but many more are present in trace amounts.

    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Loads ❗

      Hydrogen.
      Carbon.
      Oxygen.
      Nitrogen.
      Sulphur.
      Potassium.
      Selenium.
      Iodine.
      Magnesium.
      Calcium.
      Iron.
      Manganese.
      Cobalt.
      Copper.
      Zinc.

      I’ve probably missed a few out, but that’s most of the important ones.

    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Lots and lots of different types as Ed and David have already listed.

      In terms of total number of atoms there are more atoms in the human body that there are stars in the universe.

      The estimated number of atoms in a 70kg human seems to be 7^27 and the estimated number of stars 7^22.

Comments