Difference between revisions of "Material"

Revision as of 22:33, 7 December 2006

Twenty most abundant elements in Earth's crust

Approx figures for the 20 most abundant elements in Earth's crust:

Element	% mass
Oxygen	46.71
Silicon	27.69
Aluminum	8.07
Iron	5.05
Calcium	3.65
Sodium	2.75
Potassium	2.58
Magnesium	2.08
Titanium	0.62
Hydrogen	0.14
Phosphorus	0.13
Carbon	0.09
Manganese	0.09
Sulfur	0.05
Barium	0.05
Chlorine	0.05
Chromium	0.04
Fluorine	0.03
Zirconium	0.03
Nickel	0.02

Notable missing from top 20: Copper.
Carbon might replace copper for many electrical (and thermal) conduction applications - see [1], [2] and carbon nanotube for further information. In September 2013, a proof-of-concept computer was built from carbon nanotubes [3]

Figures from [4]
Figures rounded to two decimal places
Also need to have a list based on ease of extraction and energy required
Element links in list point to element's Wikipedia article

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Constituent elements of seawater

Approximate composition of seawater by mass:

Element	% mass
Oxygen	85.7
Hydrogen	10.8
Chlorine	1.9
Sodium	1.05
Magnesium	0.14
Sulfur	0.09
Calcium	0.04
Potassium	0.04
Others	Trace

Figures from [5]
Need to find definitive primary source
Element links in list point to Wikipedia article

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Constituent elements of air

Approximate composition of dry atmosphere by volume:

Element	% vol
Nitrogen	78.08
Oxygen	20.95
Argon	0.93
Carbon	< 0.01
Others	trace
Not included in above dry atmosphere:
Water vapour (variable)	~1%

Source: NASA
Carbon dioxide updated (to 1998) by IPCC TAR table 6.1 [6]. Figure for carbon extrapolated from this
Edited text from [7]
Element links in list point to Wikipedia article