query: which are the two most abundant chemical elements in the earth 's crust

pos: Abundance of the chemical elements for hydrogen is 92%, and for helium is 8%, in these environments. Changing the given environment to Jupiter's outer atmosphere, where hydrogen is diatomic while helium is not, changes the "molecular" mole-fraction (fraction of total gas molecules), as well as the fraction of atmosphere by volume, of hydrogen to about 86%, and of helium to 13%. The abundance of chemical elements in the universe is dominated by the large amounts of hydrogen and helium which were produced in the Big Bang. Remaining elements, making up only about 2% of the universe, were largely produced by supernovae and certain red giant

pos: Abundance of the chemical elements of the volatile elements hydrogen, helium, neon, and nitrogen, as well as carbon which has been lost as volatile hydrocarbons. The remaining elemental composition is roughly typical of the "rocky" inner planets, which formed in the thermal zone where solar heat drove volatile compounds into space. The Earth retains oxygen as the second-largest component of its mass (and largest atomic-fraction), mainly from this element being retained in silicate minerals which have a very high melting point and low vapor pressure. The mass-abundance of the nine most abundant elements in the Earth's crust is approximately: oxygen 46%, silicon 28%, aluminum 8.2%,

pos: Chemical element in selective loss of the very lightest elements (hydrogen and helium) and also volatile neon, carbon (as hydrocarbons), nitrogen and sulfur, as a result of solar heating in the early formation of the solar system. Oxygen, the most abundant Earth element by mass, is retained on Earth by combination with silicon. Aluminum at 8% by mass is more common in the Earth's crust than in the universe and solar system, but the composition of the far more bulky mantle, which has magnesium and iron in place of aluminum (which occurs there only at 2% of mass) more closely mirrors the

pos: Chemical element element (by mass) making up Earth, while oxygen is the most common element in the Earth's crust. Chemical elements constitute all of the ordinary matter of the universe. However astronomical observations suggest that ordinary observable matter makes up only about 15% of the matter in the universe: the remainder is dark matter; the composition of this is unknown, but it is not composed of chemical elements. The two lightest elements, hydrogen and helium, were mostly formed in the Big Bang and are the most common elements in the universe. The next three elements (lithium, beryllium and boron) were formed mostly

pos: Chemical element is the most stable element that can easily be made from alpha particles (being a product of decay of radioactive nickel-56, ultimately made from 14 helium nuclei). Elements heavier than iron are made in energy-absorbing processes in large stars, and their abundance in the universe (and on Earth) generally decreases with their atomic number. The abundance of the chemical elements on Earth varies from air to crust to ocean, and in various types of life. The abundance of elements in Earth's crust differs from that in the Solar system (as seen in the Sun and heavy planets like Jupiter) mainly

pos: Abundance of the chemical elements of uranium and thorium. Oxygen and silicon are notably the most common elements in the crust. On Earth and in rocky planets in general, silicon and oxygen are far more common than their cosmic abundance. The reason is that they combine with each other to form silicate minerals. In this way, they are the lightest of all of the two-percent "astronomical metals" (i.e., non-hydrogen and helium elements) to form a solid that is refractory to the Sun's heat, and thus cannot boil away into space. All elements lighter than oxygen have been removed from the crust in this way. "Rare"

pos: Abundance of the chemical elements in the Sun and outer planets is similar to that in the universe. Due to solar heating, the elements of Earth and the inner rocky planets of the Solar System have undergone an additional depletion of volatile hydrogen, helium, neon, nitrogen, and carbon (which volatilizes as methane). The crust, mantle, and core of the Earth show evidence of chemical segregation plus some sequestration by density. Lighter silicates of aluminum are found in the crust, with more magnesium silicate in the mantle, while metallic iron and nickel compose the core. The abundance of elements in specialized environments, such as atmospheres, or

pos: Oxygen the third most abundant chemical element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium. About 0.9% of the Sun's mass is oxygen. Oxygen constitutes 49.2% of the Earth's crust by mass as part of oxide compounds such as silicon dioxide and is the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust. It is also the major component of the world's oceans (88.8% by mass). Oxygen gas is the second most common component of the Earth's atmosphere, taking up 20.8% of its volume and 23.1% of its mass (some 10 tonnes). Earth is unusual among the planets of the Solar System

pos: Carbon Carbon Carbon (from "coal") is a chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Three isotopes occur naturally, C and C being stable, while C is a radionuclide, decaying with a half-life of about 5,730 years. Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity. Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Carbon's abundance, its unique

pos: Helium-4 Helium-4 Helium-4 (' or ') is a non-radioactive isotope of the element helium. It is by far the most abundant of the two naturally occurring isotopes of helium, making up about 99.99986% of the helium on Earth. Its nucleus is identical to an alpha particle, and consists of two protons and two neutrons. Alpha decay of heavy elements in the Earth's crust is the source of most naturally occurring helium-4 on Earth. While it is also produced by nuclear fusion in stars, most helium-4 in the Sun and in the universe is thought to have been produced by the Big

pos: Noble gas the atom, helium cannot be retained by the Earth's gravitational field. 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. The abundance of argon, on the other hand, is increased as a result of the beta decay of potassium-40, also found in the Earth's crust, to form argon-40, which is the most abundant isotope of argon on Earth despite being relatively rare in the Solar System. This process is the basis for the potassium-argon dating method. Xenon has an unexpectedly

pos: Chemistry elements (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon) are composed of lone atoms as their smallest discrete unit, but the other isolated chemical elements consist of either molecules or networks of atoms bonded to each other in some way. Identifiable molecules compose familiar substances such as water, air, and many organic compounds like alcohol, sugar, gasoline, and the various pharmaceuticals. However, not all substances or chemical compounds consist of discrete molecules, and indeed most of the solid substances that make up the solid crust, mantle, and core of the Earth are chemical compounds without molecules. These other types of substances,

pos: Abundance of the chemical elements atmosphere is nitrogen (78.1%), oxygen (20.9%), 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, phosphorus, and all other elements are present in significantly lower proportions. According to the abundance curve graph (above right), argon, a significant if not major component of the atmosphere, does not appear in the crust at all. This is because the atmosphere has a far smaller mass than the crust, so argon remaining in the crust contributes little to mass-fraction there, while at the

pos: Goldschmidt classification was its ability to form compounds with hydrogen. Under these conditions, the s- and f-block metals were strongly enriched during the formation of the Earth. The most enriched elements are rubidium, strontium and barium, which between them account for over 50 percent by mass of all elements heavier than iron in the Earth's crust. The nonmetallic lithophiles – phosphorus and the halogens – exist on Earth as ionic salts with s-block metals in pegmatites and seawater. With the exception of fluorine, whose hydride forms hydrogen bonds and is therefore of relatively low volatility, these elements have had their concentrations on

pos: Helium the Earth's heterosphere, a part of the upper atmosphere, helium and other lighter gases are the most abundant elements. Most helium on Earth is a result of radioactive decay. Helium is found in large amounts in minerals of uranium and thorium, including cleveite, pitchblende, carnotite and monazite, because they emit alpha particles (helium nuclei, He) to which electrons immediately combine as soon as the particle is stopped by the rock. In this way an estimated 3000 metric tons of helium are generated per year throughout the lithosphere. In the Earth's crust, the concentration of helium is 8 parts per billion.

pos: Goldschmidt classification the Earth's crust relative to their solar abundances, though because the minerals they form are nonmetallic, this depletion has not reached the levels found with siderophile elements. However, because they formed volatile hydrides on the primitive Earth when the controlling redox reaction was the oxidation or reduction of hydrogen, the less metallic chalcophile elements are strongly depleted on Earth as a whole relative to cosmic abundances. This is most especially true of the chalcogens selenium and tellurium (which formed volatile hydrogen selenide and hydrogen telluride, respectively), which for this reason are among the rarest elements found in the Earth's crust

pos: Carbon-based life more than any other element, with almost ten million compounds described to date, and yet that number is but a fraction of the number of theoretically possible compounds under standard conditions. For this reason, carbon has often been referred to as the "king of the elements". Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Carbon's abundance, its unique diversity of organic compounds, and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth enables this element to serve

pos: Abundance of the chemical elements in having a great deal more magnesium and significantly more iron, while having much less aluminum and sodium. Due to mass segregation, the core of the Earth is believed to be primarily composed of iron (88.8%), with smaller amounts of nickel (5.8%), sulfur (4.5%), and less than 1% trace elements. The most abundant elements in the ocean by proportion of mass in percent are oxygen (85.84), hydrogen (10.82), chlorine (1.94), sodium (1.08), magnesium (0.1292), sulfur (0.091), calcium (0.04), potassium (0.04), bromine (0.0067), carbon (0.0028), and boron (0.00043). The order of elements by volume-fraction (which is approximately molecular mole-fraction) in the

pos: Period 1 element the most abundant of the chemical elements, constituting roughly 75% of the universe's elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly composed of hydrogen in its plasma state. Elemental hydrogen is relatively rare on Earth, and is industrially produced from hydrocarbons such as methane, after which most elemental hydrogen is used "captively" (meaning locally at the production site), with the largest markets almost equally divided between fossil fuel upgrading, such as hydrocracking, and ammonia production, mostly for the fertilizer market. Hydrogen may be produced from water using the process of electrolysis, but this process is significantly more expensive commercially

pos: Radiogenic nuclide radiogenic elements are radon and helium, both of which form during the decay of heavier elements in bedrock. Radon is entirely radiogenic, since it has too short a half-life to occur primordially. Helium, however, occurs in the crust of the Earth primordially, since both helium-3 and helium-4 are stable, and small amounts were trapped in the crust of the Earth as it formed. Helium-3 is almost entirely primordial (a small amount is formed by natural nuclear reactions in the crust). The global supply of helium (which occurs in gas wells and well as the atmosphere) is almost entirely (about 90-99%)

pos: Magnesium Magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray solid which bears a close physical resemblance to the other five elements in the second column (group 2, or alkaline earth metals) of the periodic table: all group 2 elements have the same electron configuration in the outer electron shell and a similar crystal structure. Magnesium is the ninth most abundant element in the universe. It is produced in large, aging stars from the sequential addition of three helium nuclei to a carbon nucleus. When such stars explode as supernovas, much of

pos: Chemical element recurring ("periodic") physical and chemical properties. Save for unstable radioactive elements with short half-lives, all of the elements are available industrially, most of them in low degrees of impurities. The lightest chemical elements are hydrogen and helium, both created by Big Bang nucleosynthesis during the first 20 minutes of the universe in a ratio of around 3:1 by mass (or 12:1 by number of atoms), along with tiny traces of the next two elements, lithium and beryllium. Almost all other elements found in nature were made by various natural methods of nucleosynthesis. On Earth, small amounts of new atoms are

neg: Abundance of the chemical elements earth elements is a historical misnomer. The persistence of the term reflects unfamiliarity rather than true rarity. The more abundant rare earth elements are similarly concentrated in the crust compared to commonplace industrial metals such as chromium, nickel, copper, zinc, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, or lead. The two least abundant rare earth elements (thulium and lutetium) are nearly 200 times more common than gold. However, in contrast to the ordinary base and precious metals, rare earth elements have very little tendency to become concentrated in exploitable ore deposits. Consequently, most of the world's supply of rare earth elements comes from only

neg: Rare-earth element produced by supernova nucleosynthesis or the s-process in asymptotic giant branch stars. In nature, spontaneous fission of uranium-238 produces trace amounts of radioactive promethium, but most promethium is synthetically produced in nuclear reactors. Due to their chemical similarity, the concentrations of rare earths in rocks are only slowly changed by geochemical processes, making their proportions useful for geochronology and dating fossils. Rare-earth element cerium is actually the 25th most abundant element in Earth's crust, having 68 parts per million (about as common as copper). Only the highly unstable and radioactive promethium "rare earth" is quite scarce. The rare-earth elements are

neg: Abundance of the chemical elements have larger ionic radii) and therefore more strongly concentrated in the continental crust than the heavier rare earth elements. In most rare earth ore deposits, the first four rare earth elements – lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium – constitute 80% to 99% of the total amount of rare earth metal that can be found in the ore. The mass-abundance of the eight most abundant elements in the Earth's mantle (see main article above) is approximately: oxygen 45%, magnesium 23%, silicon 22%, iron 5.8%, calcium 2.3%, aluminum 2.2%, sodium 0.3%, potassium 0.3%. The mantle differs in elemental composition from the crust

neg: Alkaline earth metal earth's crust at a concentration of two to six parts per million (ppm), much of which is in soils, where it has a concentration of six ppm. Beryllium is one of the rarest elements in seawater, even rarer than elements such as scandium, with a concentration of 0.2 parts per trillion. However, in freshwater, beryllium is somewhat more common, with a concentration of 0.1 parts per billion. Magnesium and calcium are very common in the earth's crust, being respectively the fifth- eighth-most-abundant elements. None of the alkaline earth metals are found in their elemental state. Common magnesium--containing minerals are carnallite,

neg: Geochemical cycle erupts onto the surface of the Earth. This molten rock magma then cools and crystallizes, forming igneous rocks. If crystallization occurs at the Earth´s surface, extrusive igneous rocks are formed; if crystallization occurs within the Earth´s lithosphere, intrusive igneous rocks are formed which can then be brought to Earth´s surface by denudation. Categories and examples of geochemical cycles: Geochemical cycle In Earth science, a geochemical cycle is the pathway that chemical elements take in the surface and crust of the Earth. The term "geochemical" tells us that geological and chemical factors are all included. The migration of heated and compressed

neg: Calcium Calcium Calcium is a chemical element with symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to its heavier homologues strontium and barium. It is the fifth most abundant element in Earth's crust and the third most abundant metal, after iron and aluminium. The most common calcium compound on Earth is calcium carbonate, found in limestone and the fossilised remnants of early sea life; gypsum, anhydrite, fluorite, and apatite are also sources of calcium. The

neg: Sulfur Sulfur Sulfur or sulphur is a chemical element with symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent, and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula S. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow crystalline solid at room temperature. Chemically, sulfur reacts with all elements except for gold, platinum, iridium, tellurium, and the noble gases. Sulfur is the tenth most common element by mass in the universe, and the fifth most common on Earth. Though sometimes found in pure, native form, sulfur on Earth usually occurs as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Being abundant

neg: Goldschmidt classification arid regions where they can crystallise. The less soluble lithophile elements are concentrated on ancient continental shields where all soluble minerals have been weathered. Because of their strong affinity for oxygen, most lithophile elements are enriched in the Earth's crust relative to their abundance in the solar system. The most reactive s- and f-block metals, which form either saline or metallic hydrides, are known to be extraordinarily enriched on Earth as a whole relative to their solar abundances. This is because during the earliest stages of the Earth's formation the reaction that controlled the stable form of each chemical element

neg: Aluminium in the interstellar gas. Overall, the Earth is about 1.59% aluminium by mass (seventh in abundance by mass). Aluminium occurs in greater proportion in the Earth than in the Universe because aluminium easily forms the oxide and becomes bound into rocks and aluminium stays in the Earth's crust while less reactive metals sink to the core. In the Earth's crust, aluminium is the most abundant (8.3% by mass) metallic element and the third most abundant of all elements (after oxygen and silicon). A large number of silicates in the Earth's crust contain aluminium. In contrast, the Earth's mantle is only

neg: Group 9 element regia. Iridium was discovered in a very similar way in 1804 by Smithson Tennant. Meitnerium was discovered in 1982 by bombarding bismuth-209 with iron-58. All group 9 elements are relatively rare in the earth's crust, with the most abundant, cobalt, only accounting for 0.0029% of the Earth's crust. Rhodium and iridium are two of the rarest naturally occurring elements in the earth, only found in platinum ores. Meitnerium has only been produced in nuclear reactors and has never been observed in nature nor isolated in pure form. Cobalt is an essential trace nutrient to all animals, found in vitamin B-12.

neg: Planetary differentiation mix and separate materials, and soft materials to spread out over the surface. On Earth, a large piece of molten iron is sufficiently denser than continental crust material to force its way down through the crust to the mantle. In the outer Solar System a similar process may take place but with lighter materials: they may be hydrocarbons such as methane, water as liquid or ice, or frozen carbon dioxide. Although bulk materials differentiate outward or inward according to their density, the elements that are chemically bound in them fractionate according to their chemical affinities, "carried along" by more abundant

neg: Rare-earth element other important rare earth minerals, and uranium and decay products are found in others. Both series of elements begin on the periodic table in group 3 under yttrium and scandium. The 17 rare-earth elements are cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and yttrium (Y). Despite their name, rare-earth elements are – with the exception of the radioactive promethium – relatively plentiful in Earth's crust, with cerium being the 25th most abundant element at 68

neg: Thorium since decayed and no longer contribute. In the Earth's crust, thorium is much more abundant: with an abundance of 8.1 parts per million (ppm), it is one of the most abundant of the heavy elements, almost as abundant as lead (13 ppm) and more abundant than tin (2.1 ppm). This is because thorium is likely to form oxide minerals that do not sink into the core; it is classified as a lithophile. Common thorium compounds are also poorly soluble in water. Thus, even though the Earth contains the same abundances of the elements as the Solar System as a whole,

neg: Composition of Mars instruments to measure the surface composition of Mars by either remote sensing from orbit or "in situ" analyses on the surface. We also have many actual samples of Mars in the form of meteorites that have made their way to Earth. Martian meteorites (often called SNC's, for Shergottites, Nakhlites, and Chassignites—the groups of meteorites first shown to have a martian origin) provide data on the chemical composition of Mars' crust and interior that would not otherwise be available except through a sample return mission. Based on these data sources, scientists think that the most abundant chemical elements in the Martian

neg: Boron group Aluminium occurs widely on earth, and indeed is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust (8.3%). Gallium is found in the earth with an abundance of 13 ppm. Indium is the 61st most abundant element in the earth's crust, and thallium is found in moderate amounts throughout the planet. Nihonium is never found in nature and therefore is termed a synthetic element. Several group 13 elements have biological roles in the ecosystem. Boron is a trace element in humans and is essential for some plants. Lack of boron can lead to stunted plant growth, while an excess can

neg: Mineral stacking groups of three layers ("abcabcabc"). Analogues to linked silica tetrahedra include SO (sulfate), PO (phosphate), AsO (arsenate), and VO (vanadate). The non-silicates have great economic importance, as they concentrate elements more than the silicate minerals do. The largest grouping of minerals by far are the silicates; most rocks are composed of greater than 95% silicate minerals, and over 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of these minerals. The two main constituents of silicates are silicon and oxygen, which are the two most abundant elements in the Earth's crust. Other common elements in silicate minerals correspond to other common

neg: Abundance of the chemical elements a handful of sources. Furthermore, the rare earth metals are all quite chemically similar to each other, and they are thus quite difficult to separate into quantities of the pure elements. Differences in abundances of individual rare earth elements in the upper continental crust of the Earth represent the superposition of two effects, one nuclear and one geochemical. First, the rare earth elements with even atomic numbers (Ce, Nd, ...) have greater cosmic and terrestrial abundances than the adjacent rare earth elements with odd atomic numbers (La, Pr, ...). Second, the lighter rare earth elements are more incompatible (because they

neg: Geochemistry Mg and Ca, dominate in the Earth's crust, forming silicates and other oxides. "Siderophile" elements (Fe, Co, Ni, Pt, Re, Os) have an affinity for iron and tend to concentrate in the core. "Chalcophile" elements (Cu, Ag, Zn, Pb, S) form sulfides; and "atmophile" elements (O, N, H and noble gases) dominate the atmosphere. Within each group, some elements are refractory, remaining stable at high temperatures, while others are volatile, evaporating more easily, so heating can separate them. The chemical composition of the Earth and other bodies is determined by two opposing processes: differentiation and mixing. In the Earth's mantle,

neg: Samarium mineral samarskite from which it was isolated. The mineral itself was earlier named after a Russian mine official, Colonel Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets, who thereby became the first person to have a chemical element named after him, albeit indirectly. Although classified as a rare-earth element, samarium is the 40th most abundant element in the Earth's crust and is more common than such metals as tin. Samarium occurs with concentration up to 2.8% in several minerals including cerite, gadolinite, samarskite, monazite and bastnäsite, the last two being the most common commercial sources of the element. These minerals are mostly found in China, the

neg: Chemical element Chemical element A chemical element is a species of atoms having the same number of protons in their atomic nuclei (that is, the same atomic number, or "Z"). For example, the atomic number of oxygen is 8, so the element oxygen consists of all atoms which have exactly 8 protons. 118 elements have been identified, of which the first 94 occur naturally on Earth with the remaining 24 being synthetic elements. There are 80 elements that have at least one stable isotope and 38 that have exclusively radionuclides, which decay over time into other elements. Iron is the most abundant

neg: Planetary differentiation dome-shaped forms called diapirs when doing so. On Earth, salt domes are salt diapirs in the crust which rise through surrounding rock. Diapirs of molten low-density silicate rocks such as granite are abundant in the Earth's upper crust. The hydrated, low-density serpentinite formed by alteration of mantle material at subduction zones can also rise to the surface as diapirs. Other materials do likewise: a low-temperature, near-surface example is provided by mud volcanos. On the Moon, a distinctive basaltic material has been found that is high in "incompatible elements" such as potassium, rare earth elements, and phosphorus and is often referred

neg: Potassium studies because potassium is a macronutrient required for life. Potassium is formed in supernovae by nucleosynthesis from lighter atoms. Potassium is principally created in Type II supernovae via an explosive oxygen-burning process. is also formed in s-process nucleosynthesis and the neon burning process. Potassium is the 20th most abundant element in the solar system and the 17th most abundant element by weight in the earth. It makes up about 2.6% of the weight of the earth's crust and is the seventh most abundant element in the crust. The potassium concentration in seawater is 0.39 g/L (0.039 wt/v%), about one twenty-seventh

neg: Caesium element estimated to average 3 parts per million in the Earth's crust. It is the 45th most abundant element and the 36th among the metals. Nevertheless, it is more abundant than such elements as antimony, cadmium, tin, and tungsten, and two orders of magnitude more abundant than mercury and silver; it is 3.3% as abundant as rubidium, with which it is closely associated, chemically. Due to its large ionic radius, caesium is one of the "incompatible elements". During magma crystallization, caesium is concentrated in the liquid phase and crystallizes last. Therefore, the largest deposits of caesium are zone pegmatite ore

neg: Chemical compound arise because of an excess of deficit of the constituent elements at places in its structure; such non-stoichiometric substances form most of the crust and mantle of the Earth. Other compounds regarded as chemically identical may have varying amounts of heavy or light isotopes of the constituent elements, which changes the ratio of elements by mass slightly. Compounds are held together through a variety of different types of bonding and forces. The differences in the types of bonds in compounds differ based on the types of elements present in the compound. London dispersion forces are the weakest force of all

neg: Iron most abundant element on Earth, but only the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, after oxygen, silicon, and aluminium. Most of the iron in the crust is found combined with oxygen as iron oxide minerals such as hematite (FeO), magnetite (FeO), and siderite (FeCO). Many igneous rocks also contain the sulfide minerals pyrrhotite and pentlandite. Ferropericlase (Mg,Fe)O, a solid solution of periclase (MgO) and wüstite (FeO), makes up about 20% of the volume of the lower mantle of the Earth, which makes it the second most abundant mineral phase in that region after silicate perovskite (Mg,Fe)SiO; it also

neg: Alkali metal amounts of nickel (5.8%), sulfur (4.5%), and less than 1% trace elements. The alkali metals, due to their high reactivity, do not occur naturally in pure form in nature. They are lithophiles and therefore remain close to the Earth's surface because they combine readily with oxygen and so associate strongly with silica, forming relatively low-density minerals that do not sink down into the Earth's core. Potassium, rubidium and caesium are also incompatible elements due to their large ionic radii. Sodium and potassium are very abundant in earth, both being among the ten most common elements in Earth's crust; sodium makes

neg: Argon Argon Argon is a chemical element with symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as abundant as water vapor (which averages about 4000 ppmv, but varies greatly), 23 times as abundant as carbon dioxide (400 ppmv), and more than 500 times as abundant as neon (18 ppmv). Argon is the most abundant noble gas in Earth's crust, comprising 0.00015% of the crust. Nearly all of the argon in

neg: Earth's crustal evolution is the most differentiated type of crust and so has a composition vastly different to that of the bulk Earth. The tertiary crust contains over 20% of the abundance of incompatible elements, which are elements with a size or charge that prevent them from being included in mineral structure. This a result of its generation from the subduction and partial melting of secondary crust where it undergoes further fractional crystallisation. Two stages of evolution produce an increased proportion of incompatible elements. The formation and development of plumes in the early mantle contributed to triggering the lateral movement of crust across

neg: Iron Iron Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from ) and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust. Its abundance in rocky planets like Earth is due to its abundant production by fusion in high-mass stars, where it is the last element to be produced with release of energy before the violent collapse of a supernova, which scatters the iron into space. Like the other

neg: Tellurium alpha decay. The atomic mass of tellurium (127.60 g·mol) exceeds that of iodine (126.90 g·mol), the next element in the periodic table. With an abundance in the Earth's crust comparable to that of platinum (about 1 µg/kg), tellurium is one of the rarest stable solid elements. In comparison, even the rarest of the stable lanthanides have crustal abundances of 500 µg/kg (see Abundance of the chemical elements). This rarity of tellurium in the Earth's crust is not a reflection of its cosmic abundance. Tellurium is more abundant than rubidium in the cosmos, though rubidium is 10,000 times more abundant in

neg: Earth science as rocks or river water), then they record their findings on charts and maps. The following fields of science are generally categorized within the Earth sciences: Plate tectonics, mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes are geological phenomena that can be explained in terms of physical and chemical processes in the Earth's crust. Beneath the Earth's crust lies the mantle which is heated by the radioactive decay of heavy elements. The mantle is not quite solid and consists of magma which is in a state of semi-perpetual convection. This convection process causes the lithospheric plates to move, albeit slowly. The resulting process

neg: Geochemical cycle Geochemical cycle In Earth science, a geochemical cycle is the pathway that chemical elements take in the surface and crust of the Earth. The term "geochemical" tells us that geological and chemical factors are all included. The migration of heated and compressed chemical elements and compounds such as silicon, aluminium, and general alkali metals through the means of subduction and volcanism is known in the geological world as geochemical cycles. The geochemical cycle encompasses the natural separation and concentration of elements and heat-assisted recombination processes. Changes may not be apparent over a short term, such as with biogeochemical cycles, but

neg: Granite than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite; pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or "two-mica" granite. Two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites. A worldwide average of the chemical composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses: Granite containing rock is widely distributed throughout the continental crust. Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age; it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin sedimentary veneer of the continents.

neg: Mineral Family, Tribe, Genus, and Species. The abundance and diversity of minerals is controlled directly by their chemistry, in turn dependent on elemental abundances in the Earth. The majority of minerals observed are derived from the Earth's crust. Eight elements account for most of the key components of minerals, due to their abundance in the crust. These eight elements, summing to over 98% of the crust by weight, are, in order of decreasing abundance: oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium and potassium. Oxygen and silicon are by far the two most important – oxygen composes 47% of the crust by

neg: Period 6 element University of California, Berkeley in 1940. Three years later, it was found in nature; however, with an estimated amount of less than 28 grams (1 oz) at given time, astatine is the least abundant element in Earth's crust among non-transuranium elements. Among astatine isotopes, six (with mass numbers 214 to 219) are present in nature as the result of decay of heavier elements; however, the most stable astatine-210 and the industrially used astatine-211 are not. Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the

neg: Crust (geology) depth, reaching values typically in the range from about to at the boundary with the underlying mantle. The temperature increases by as much as for every kilometer locally in the upper part of the crust, but the geothermal gradient is smaller in deeper crust. The continental crust has an average composition similar to that of andesite. The most abundant minerals in Earth's continental crust are feldspars, which make up about 41% of the crust by weight, followed by quartz at 12%, and pyroxenes at 11%. Continental crust is enriched in incompatible elements compared to the basaltic ocean crust and much

neg: Planetary differentiation to by the abbreviation KREEP. It is also high in uranium and thorium. These elements are excluded from the major minerals of the lunar crust which crystallized out from its primeval magma ocean, and the KREEP basalt may have been trapped as a chemical differentiate between the crust and the mantle, with occasional eruptions to the surface. Magma in the Earth is produced by partial melting of a source rock, ultimately in the mantle. The melt extracts a large portion of the "incompatible elements" from its source that are not stable in the major minerals. When magma rises above a

neg: Abundance of the chemical elements processes. There are also breaks in the abundance graph where the six noble gases would be, since they are not chemically bound in the Earth's crust, and they are only generated by decay chains from radioactive elements in the crust, and are therefore extremely rare there. The eight naturally occurring very rare, highly radioactive elements (polonium, astatine, francium, radium, actinium, protactinium, neptunium, and plutonium) are not included, since any of these elements that were present at the formation of the Earth have decayed away eons ago, and their quantity today is negligible and is only produced from the radioactive decay

neg: Zinc Zinc Zinc is a chemical element with symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. In some respects zinc is chemically similar to magnesium: both elements exhibit only one normal oxidation state (+2), and the Zn and Mg ions are of similar size. Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in Earth's crust and has five stable isotopes. The most common zinc ore is sphalerite (zinc blende), a zinc sulfide mineral. The largest workable lodes are in Australia, Asia, and the United States. Zinc is refined by froth flotation of

neg: Magnesium the magnesium is expelled into the interstellar medium where it may recycle into new star systems. Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and the fourth most common element in the Earth (after iron, oxygen and silicon), making up 13% of the planet's mass and a large fraction of the planet's mantle. It is the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater, after sodium and chlorine. Magnesium occurs naturally only in combination with other elements, where it invariably has a +2 oxidation state. The free element (metal) can be produced artificially, and is highly reactive (though

neg: Period 3 element fresh mineral waters. "Aluminium" (symbol Al) or "aluminum" (American English) is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements and a post-transition metal. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances. Aluminium is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant metal, in the Earth's crust. It makes up about 8% by weight of the Earth's solid surface. Aluminium metal is too reactive chemically to occur natively. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different minerals. The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite. Aluminium is remarkable for the metal's low

neg: Iridium elements in Earth's crust, having an average mass fraction of 0.001 ppm in crustal rock; platinum is 10 times more abundant, gold is 40 times more abundant, and silver and mercury are 80 times more abundant. Tellurium is about as abundant as iridium. In contrast to its low abundance in crustal rock, iridium is relatively common in meteorites, with concentrations of 0.5 ppm or more. The overall concentration of iridium on Earth is thought to be much higher than what is observed in crustal rocks, but because of the density and siderophilic ("iron-loving") character of iridium, it descended below the

neg: Earth of all organisms living on Earth. Earth has resources that have been exploited by humans. Those termed non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels, only renew over geological timescales. Large deposits of fossil fuels are obtained from Earth's crust, consisting of coal, petroleum, and natural gas. These deposits are used by humans both for energy production and as feedstock for chemical production. Mineral ore bodies have also been formed within the crust through a process of ore genesis, resulting from actions of magmatism, erosion, and plate tectonics. These bodies form concentrated sources for many metals and other useful elements. Earth's biosphere

neg: Crust (geology) Crust (geology) In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a rocky planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. It is usually distinguished from the underlying mantle by its chemical makeup; however, in the case of icy satellites, it may be distinguished based on its phase (solid crust vs. liquid mantle). The crusts of Earth, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Io, and other planetary bodies formed via igneous processes, and were later modified by erosion, impact cratering, volcanism, and sedimentation. Most terrestrial planets have fairly uniform crusts. Earth, however, has two distinct types: continental crust and oceanic crust. These two

neg: Solid boron to polonium, are metals. Mixtures of two or more elements in which the major component is a metal are known as alloys. People have been using metals for a variety of purposes since prehistoric times. The strength and reliability of metals has led to their widespread use in construction of buildings and other structures, as well as in most vehicles, many appliances and tools, pipes, road signs and railroad tracks. Iron and aluminium are the two most commonly used structural metals, and they are also the most abundant metals in the Earth's crust. Iron is most commonly used in

neg: Aluminium Aluminium Aluminium or aluminum is a chemical element with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic and ductile metal in the boron group. By mass, aluminium makes up about 8% of the Earth's crust; it is the third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon and the most abundant metal in the crust, though it is less common in the mantle below. The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite. Aluminium metal is so chemically reactive that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing environments. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different

neg: Abundance of the chemical elements iron 5.6%, calcium 4.2%, sodium 2.5%, magnesium 2.4%, potassium 2.0%, and titanium 0.61%. Other elements occur at less than 0.15%. For a complete list, see abundance of elements in Earth's crust. The graph at right illustrates the relative atomic-abundance of the chemical elements in Earth's upper continental crust— the part that is relatively accessible for measurements and estimation. Many of the elements shown in the graph are classified into (partially overlapping) categories: Note that there are two breaks where the unstable (radioactive) elements technetium (atomic number 43) and promethium (atomic number 61) would be. These elements are surrounded by stable

neg: Mineral redox buffer Mineral redox buffer In geology, a redox buffer is an assemblage of minerals or compounds that constrains oxygen fugacity as a function of temperature. Knowledge of the redox conditions (or equivalently, oxygen fugacities) at which a rock forms and evolves can be important for interpreting the rock history. Iron, sulfur, and manganese are three of the relatively abundant elements in the Earth's crust that occur in more than one oxidation state. For instance, iron, the fourth most abundant element in the crust, exists as native iron, ferrous iron (Fe), and ferric iron (Fe). The redox state of a rock affects

neg: Thorium starting a decay chain named the thorium series that ends at stable Pb. In the universe, thorium and uranium are the only two radioactive elements that still occur naturally in large quantities as primordial elements. It is estimated to be over three times more abundant than uranium in the Earth's crust, and is chiefly refined from monazite sands as a by-product of extracting rare-earth metals. Thorium was discovered in 1829 by the Norwegian amateur mineralogist Morten Thrane Esmark and identified by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Its first applications

neg: Magnesite in Greece Magnesite in Greece Magnesium (Mg) is a chemical element, an alkaline earth metal, the eighth-most abundant element in the Earth's crust and the fourth-most common element on Earth. It is contained in magnesite, dolomite, brucite, carnallite, talc, and magnesium minerals. China is now the biggest producer of crude magnesite in the world for refractory and agricultural uses. Crude magnesite was produced in Greece in 1910. It was first found in Atalanti and in the Province of Lokris, central Greece. Other localities were Perachori, near Corinth; Ermioni (or Kastri) and on Spetses Island in southern Argolis in the Peloponnese; on Paros

neg: Oceanic crust crust with laboratory determinations of seismic velocities in known rock types, and samples recovered from the ocean floor by submersibles, dredging (especially from ridge crests and fracture zones) and drilling. Oceanic crust is significantly simpler than continental crust and generally can be divided in three layers. According to mineral physics experiments, at lower mantle pressures, oceanic crust becomes denser than the surrounding mantle. The most voluminous volcanic rocks of the ocean floor are the mid-oceanic ridge basalts, which are derived from low-potassium tholeiitic magmas. These rocks have low concentrations of large ion lithophile elements (LILE), light rare earth elements (LREE),

neg: Alkaline earth metal Alkaline earth metal The alkaline earth metals are six chemical elements in group 2 of the periodic table. They are beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), and radium (Ra). The elements have very similar properties: they are all shiny, silvery-white, somewhat reactive metals at standard temperature and pressure. Structurally, they have in common an outer s- electron shell which is full; that is, this orbital contains its full complement of two electrons, which these elements readily lose to form cations with charge +2, and an oxidation state of +2. All the discovered alkaline earth metals occur

neg: Chlorine but not recognised as a fundamentally important substance. Carl Wilhelm Scheele wrote a description of chlorine gas in 1774, supposing it to be an oxide of a new element. In 1809, chemists suggested that the gas might be a pure element, and this was confirmed by Sir Humphry Davy in 1810, who named it from based on its colour. Because of its great reactivity, all chlorine in the Earth's crust is in the form of ionic chloride compounds, which includes table salt. It is the second-most abundant halogen (after fluorine) and twenty-first most abundant chemical element in Earth's crust. These

neg: Scandium Sc are calcium isotopes and the primary products from higher atomic weights are titanium isotopes. In Earth's crust, scandium is not rare. Estimates vary from 18 to 25 ppm, which is comparable to the abundance of cobalt (20–30 ppm). Scandium is only the 50th most common element on Earth (35th most abundant in the crust), but it is the 23rd most common element in the Sun. However, scandium is distributed sparsely and occurs in trace amounts in many minerals. Rare minerals from Scandinavia and Madagascar such as thortveitite, euxenite, and gadolinite are the only known concentrated sources of this element.

neg: Zinc possible symptoms. Zinc is highly toxic in parrots and poisoning can often be fatal. The consumption of fruit juices stored in galvanized cans has resulted in mass parrot poisonings with zinc. Zinc Zinc is a chemical element with symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. In some respects zinc is chemically similar to magnesium: both elements exhibit only one normal oxidation state (+2), and the Zn and Mg ions are of similar size. Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in Earth's crust and has five stable isotopes. The

neg: Alkaline earth metal the next member of this series, calculations suggest that the next element of this series might actually be element 166. Alkaline earth metal The alkaline earth metals are six chemical elements in group 2 of the periodic table. They are beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), and radium (Ra). The elements have very similar properties: they are all shiny, silvery-white, somewhat reactive metals at standard temperature and pressure. Structurally, they have in common an outer s- electron shell which is full; that is, this orbital contains its full complement of two electrons, which these elements readily

neg: Primary minerals in the acidic igneous rocks and a second group of accessory minerals which were formed by deposition from the residual mother liquors. Modern soil science offers the following definition: "Primary Minerals: The thickness of the earth's crust varies from 10 km under the ocean to 30 km under the continents. Of the 88 naturally occurring elements on earth, only 8 make [up] most of the crust. The earth's crust and soils are dominated by the silicic acid in combination with Na, Al, K, Ca, Fe and O ions. ...Those elements are components of primary minerals, whereas primary minerals are components

neg: Planetary surface matter in combinations of rock, regolith and frozen chemical elements and chemical compounds. In general, ice predominates planetary surfaces beyond the frost line, while closer to the sun, rock and regolith predominate. Minerals and hydrates may also be present in smaller quantities on many planetary surfaces. Surface liquid, while abundant on Earth (the largest body of surface liquid being the World Ocean) is rare elsewhere, a notable exception being Titan which has the largest known hydrocarbon lake system while surface water, abundant on Earth and essential to all known forms of life is thought only to exist as Seasonal flows

neg: Mars primarily of iron and nickel with about 16–17% sulfur. This iron(II) sulfide core is thought to be twice as rich in lighter elements as Earth's. The core is surrounded by a silicate mantle that formed many of the tectonic and volcanic features on the planet, but it appears to be dormant. Besides silicon and oxygen, the most abundant elements in the Martian crust are iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium. The average thickness of the planet's crust is about , with a maximum thickness of . Earth's crust averages . Mars is a terrestrial planet that consists of minerals containing

neg: Silicon more cations to be included in the structure to balance charge. Examples include feldspars (the most abundant minerals on the Earth), zeolites, and ultramarines. Many feldspars can be thought of as forming part of the ternary system NaAlSiO–KAlSiO–CaAlSiO. Their lattice is destroyed by high pressure prompting Al to undergo six-coordination rather than four-coordination, and this reaction destroying feldspars may be a reason for the Mohorovičić discontinuity, which would imply that the crust and mantle have the same chemical composition, but different lattices, although this is not a universally held view. Zeolites have many polyhedral cavities in their frameworks (truncated cuboctahedra

neg: Period 3 element in 1810, who named it chlorine, from the Greek word χλωρος (chlōros), meaning "green-yellow." Chlorine is a component of various compounds, including table salt. It is the second most abundant halogen and 21st most abundant chemical element in Earth's crust. The great oxidizing potential of chlorine led it to its bleaching and disinfectant uses, as well as uses of an essential reagent in the chemical industry. As a common disinfectant, chlorine compounds are used in swimming pools to keep them clean and sanitary. In the upper atmosphere, chlorine-containing molecules such as chlorofluorocarbons have been implicated in ozone depletion. "Argon" (symbol

neg: Structure of the Earth discontinuity (a second order discontinuity). The uppermost mantle together with the crust constitutes the lithosphere. The crust-mantle boundary occurs as two physically different events. First, there is a discontinuity in the seismic velocity, which is most commonly known as the Mohorovičić discontinuity or Moho. The cause of the Moho is thought to be a change in rock composition from rocks containing plagioclase feldspar (above) to rocks that contain no feldspars (below). Second, in oceanic crust, there is a chemical discontinuity between ultramafic cumulates and tectonized harzburgites, which has been observed from deep parts of the oceanic crust that have been

neg: Compatibility (geochemistry) uranium, and lanthanum. Compatible elements are depleted in the crust and enriched in the mantle, with examples nickel and titanium. White, William M., 2005. Geochemistry (Online textbook) Compatibility (geochemistry) In geochemistry, compatibility is a measure of how readily a particular trace element substitutes for a major element within a mineral. Compatibility of an ion is controlled by two things: its valence and its ionic radius. Both must approximate those of the major element for the trace element to be compatible in the mineral. For instance, olivine (an abundant mineral in the upper mantle) has the chemical formula (Mg,Fe)SiO. Nickel, with

neg: Oxygen cycle minerals of the crust and mantle (99.5% by weight). The Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere together weigh less than 0.05% of the Earth's total mass. Oxygen is one of the most abundant elements on Earth and represents a large portion of each main reservoir: Movement of oxygen between the reservoirs is facilitated in large part by the presence of atmospheric free oxygen. The main source of atmospheric free oxygen is photosynthesis, which produces sugars and free oxygen from carbon dioxide and water: Photosynthesizing organisms include the plant life of the land areas as well as the phytoplankton of the oceans.

neg: Primitive mantle Primitive mantle The primitive mantle is, in geochemistry, a hypothetical reservoir with the composition of the Earth's crust and mantle taken together. The currently accepted scientific hypothesis is that the Earth was formed by accretion of material with a chondritic composition. Still during the accretionary phase planetary differentiation started, giving rise to the Earth's core, where heavy metallic siderophile elements accumulated. Around it was a (in this stage) undifferentiated mantle, the primitive mantle. Further differentiation would take place later, creating the different chemical reservoirs of crust and mantle, with incompatible elements accumulating in the crust. Today differentiation still continues in

neg: Isua Greenstone Belt the greenstone belt, using geochemical, lithological, and structural clues, is predicated upon two assumptions: first, new Hadean crust formed laterally by the expelling and lateral accretion of mafic to ultramafic lavas. Then stabilization occurred through the re-melting of the crust. The reworked crust can be attributed to the burial, most likely through subduction, of hydrated materials, such as basalt, that were formed in the Hadean. Additionally, the source for tested rock samples came from a mantle depleted in titanium and niobium and enriched in lead, strontium, barium, rubidium, and light rare-earth elements, which, taken together, are indicative of arc-related basalts.

neg: Isotope nuclides include 32 nuclides with very long half-lives (over 100 million years) and 253 that are formally considered as "stable nuclides", because they have not been observed to decay. In most cases, for obvious reasons, if an element has stable isotopes, those isotopes predominate in the elemental abundance found on Earth and in the Solar System. However, in the cases of three elements (tellurium, indium, and rhenium) the most abundant isotope found in nature is actually one (or two) extremely long-lived radioisotope(s) of the element, despite these elements having one or more stable isotopes. Theory predicts that many apparently "stable"

neg: Chemical element chemical bonds, they form chemical compounds. Only a minority of elements are found uncombined as relatively pure minerals. Among the more common of such native elements are copper, silver, gold, carbon (as coal, graphite, or diamonds), and sulfur. All but a few of the most inert elements, such as noble gases and noble metals, are usually found on Earth in chemically combined form, as chemical compounds. While about 32 of the chemical elements occur on Earth in native uncombined forms, most of these occur as mixtures. For example, atmospheric air is primarily a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, and

neg: Aluminium (not avgas), and laboratory cultures can degrade aluminium. However, these life forms do not directly attack or consume the aluminium; rather, the metal is corroded by microbe waste products. Aluminium Aluminium or aluminum is a chemical element with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic and ductile metal in the boron group. By mass, aluminium makes up about 8% of the Earth's crust; it is the third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon and the most abundant metal in the crust, though it is less common in the mantle below. The chief ore of

neg: Halobacterium salinarum as an extremophile. Halobacteria are single-celled, rod-shaped microorganisms that are among the most ancient forms of life and appeared on Earth billions of years ago. The membrane consists of a single lipid monolayer surrounded by an S-layer. The S-layer is made of a cell-surface glycoprotein, which accounts for approximately 50% of the cell surface proteins. These proteins form a lattice in the membrane. Sulfate residues are abundant on the glycan chains of the glycoprotein, giving it a negative charge. The negative charge is believed to stabilize the lattice in high-salt conditions. Amino acids are the main source of chemical energy

neg: Mineral Earth's crust, quartz (SiO) is the most abundant mineral species. It is characterized by its high chemical and physical resistivity. Quartz has several polymorphs, including tridymite and cristobalite at high temperatures, high-pressure coesite, and ultra-high pressure stishovite. The latter mineral can only be formed on Earth by meteorite impacts, and its structure has been composed so much that it had changed from a silicate structure to that of rutile (TiO). The silica polymorph that is most stable at the Earth's surface is α-quartz. Its counterpart, β-quartz, is present only at high temperatures and pressures (changes to α-quartz below 573 °C

neg: Lanthanide purification methods for these elements which require a great deal of repeating to get a purified metal. The refined metals and their compounds have subtle and stark differences amongst themselves in electronic, electrical, optical, and magnetic properties which account for their many niche uses. By way of examples of the term meaning the above considerations rather than their scarcity, cerium is the 26th most abundant element in the Earth's crust and more abundant than copper, neodymium is more abundant than gold; thulium (the second least common naturally occurring lanthanide) is more abundant than iodine, which is itself common enough for

neg: Cerium rare-earth elements in minerals such as those of the monazite and bastnäsite groups, cerium is easy to extract from its ores, as it can be distinguished among the lanthanides by its unique ability to be oxidized to the +4 state. It is the most common of the lanthanides, followed by neodymium, lanthanum, and praseodymium. It is the 26th-most abundant element, making up 66 ppm of the Earth's crust, half as much as chlorine and five times as much as lead. Cerium was the first of the lanthanides to be discovered, in Bastnäs, Sweden by Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger

neg: Praseodymium the Earth's crust, an abundance similar to that of boron. In 1841, Swedish chemist Carl Gustav Mosander extracted a rare-earth oxide residue he called didymium from a residue he called "lanthana", in turn separated from cerium salts. In 1885, the Austrian chemist Baron Carl Auer von Welsbach separated didymium into two elements that gave salts of different colours, which he named praseodymium and neodymium. The name praseodymium comes from the Greek "prasinos" (πράσινος), meaning "green", and "didymos" (δίδυμος), "twin". Like most rare-earth elements, praseodymium most readily forms the +3 oxidation state, which is the only stable state in aqueous solution,

neg: Rare-earth element that fall in between are typically referred to as the middle rare-earth elements (MREE). Commonly, rare-earth elements with atomic numbers 57 to 61 are classified as light and those with atomic numbers greater than 62 (corresponding to europium) are classified as heavy-rare earth elements. Increasing atomic numbers between light and heavy rare-earth elements and decreasing atomic radii throughout the series causes chemical variations. Europium is exempt of this classification as it has two valence states: Eu and Eu. Yttrium is grouped as heavy rare-earth element due to chemical similarities. Rare-earth elements, except scandium, are heavier than iron and thus are

neg: Earth's crustal evolution crust, increasing the difficulty in determining its nature. Recycling of existing primordial crust contributes to the production of secondary crust. Partial melting of the existing crust increases the mafic content of the melt producing basaltic secondary crust. A further method of formation due to the decay of radioactive elements within the Earth releasing heat energy and eventually causing the partial melting of upper mantle, also producing basaltic lavas. As a result, most secondary crust on Earth is formed at mid ocean ridges forming the oceanic crust. The present day continental crust is an example of a tertiary crust. Tertiary crust

neg: Lutetium–hafnium dating the mantle and crust. During the formation of the Earth, the two elements tended not be fractionated into the core during core formation, i.e. not concentrated in the core, unlike siderophile elements (iron-loving elements). Lu and Hf are also refractory elements, meaning they quickly condensed from the protoplanetary disk to form the solid part of Earth, as opposed to volatile elements. The two elements as a result would not be found in Earth's early atmosphere. Due to these characteristics, the two elements are relatively stationary throughout planetary evolution and are thought to retain the isotopic abundance characteristics of primitive planetary

neg: Composition of the human body g in men, ~2.3 g in women Of the 94 naturally occurring chemical elements, 60 are listed in the table above. Of the remaining 34, it is not known how many occur in the human body. Most of the elements needed for life are relatively common in the Earth's crust. Aluminium, the third most common element in the Earth's crust (after oxygen and silicon), serves no function in living cells, but is harmful in large amounts. Transferrins can bind aluminium. The composition of the human body is expressed in terms of chemicals: The composition of the human body can be

neg: Pnictogen nitrogen on earth is in the form of nitrogen gas, but some nitrate minerals do exist. Nitrogen makes up 2.5% of a typical human by weight. Phosphorus makes up 0.1% of the earth's crust, making it the 11th most abundant element there. Phosphorus makes up 0.65 parts per million of soil, and 15 to 60 parts per billion of seawater. There are 200 million metric tons of accessible phosphates on earth. Phosphorus makes up 1.1% of a typical human by weight. Phosphorus occurs in minerals of the apatite family which are the main components of the phosphate rocks. Arsenic makes