Question about chemical elements.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2003-07-14 07:10am

Can somebody tell me (or direct me to a website, where i´ll find answers for my questions) in what relation to each other chemical elements exist ( for one ton of iron, there are five tons of silicium and so on)

a) in the universe

b) on a planet like our earth?

I tried a search on the internet, but got mostly university-pages with their timetables in geology or chemistry, but nothing concrete.
Thanks in advance.

Shortie · Post by **Shortie** » 2003-07-14 07:45am

IIRC the Earth is mostly iron and the universe is mostly hydrogen and helium.

Oxygen and silicon are also pretty common on earth, though don't ask me for figures, my favourite astronomy\geology site has gone down.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2003-07-14 08:38am

Yes, but i wanted to know about the relations between them.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2003-07-14 12:21pm

Proportions are difficult on a universal scale because hydrogen is about 99% of all matter.

On earth, the five most common elements in order of abundance are:

Iron, Silicon, Oxygen, Magnesium, and Calcium.

I´m afraid my old textbooks are out of reach for quantification, however.

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-07-14 01:04pm

I believe its 75% Hydrogen, 25% Helium, with heavier elements being something like 1%.

Ted C · Post by **Ted C** » 2003-07-14 01:59pm

Try this one...

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys240/le ... ments.html

According to the source, the universe is 90% hydrogen, 9% helium, and 1% heavier elements.

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-07-14 03:58pm

Ted C wrote: According to the source, the universe is 90% hydrogen, 9% helium, and 1% heavier elements.

The smaller helium number is because they're using "number of atoms" rather than mass.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2003-07-14 04:53pm

Thanks for the link.

I asked that question, because i wanted to know how much i get of each element, if i (as ruthless member of the mining guild) break up a planet.

As a second we could get a rough estimation for the needs and demands of a galactic civilisation like the one in SW, if we scale up present day production of steel, aluminium and so on.