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Chemical Composition of Humans
Name: Debra F. P.
Status: educator
Age: 40s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Sunday, December 08, 2002
Question:
What is the chemical composition of the human body by
element and %?
Replies:
Dry weight %
Carbon... 61.7
Nitrogen.. 11.0
Oxygen.. 9.3
Hydrogen... 5.7
Calcium.. 5.0
Phosphorus..3.3
Potassium.. 1.3
Sulfur.. 1.0
Chlorine.. 0.7
Sodium.. 0.7
Magnesium..0.3
Trace amounts of B, F Si, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Se, Mo, Sn, I.
There are some arguments as to the importance of other trace elements. If
you happen to know a farmer with cows or cattle, take a look at the
nutritional contents of "calf pellets" and you can see what they think a
calf needs in its diet to be healthy...we are just another mammal.
Peter Faletra Ph.D.
Assistant Director
Office of Science
Department of Energy
The chemical composition, by compound, would be extremely long. The
chemical composition, by element, can be found on a number of web sites.
Search with www.google.com
for "elemental composition human body".
The following web site give the most
complete list of elements that I found.
http://web2.iadfw.net/uthman/elements_of_body.html
Vince Calder
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Update: June 2012
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