Oxygen is the major element in terms of mass. Hydrogen is the leading element in terms of atomic percent. Water is the major compound.
Hydrogen accounts for 63% of our atoms, but oxygen accounts for 65% of our mass.
See Sources and related links for a breakdown.
Short Answer:
By weight, oxygen makes up approximately 65% of the human body.
Numerically, hydrogen approaches 65% of the total number of atoms in the human body, but it is probably closer to 63% for most people.
Accounting by Mass:
The mass of the human body is provided mostly by oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen. Together these elements account for about 96% of the mass of a human.
Add in about a kilogram of calcium in the bones and body fluids and you are up to 97.4%. All of this depends on the particular person since water, our major component, can differ by 10% from one individual to another.
That said, typically the breakdown goes like this.
Oxygen: 65% of the mass
Carbon: 18% of the mass
Hydrogen: 10% of the mass
Nitrogen: 3% of the mass
Calcium: 1.4 % of the mass
Phosphorus 1.1% of the mass
With phosphorus, one has accounted for 98.5% of the mass of the typical human and that will change by a couple of tenths from person to person.
Accounting by Numbers:
Numerically we have nearly twice as many hydrogen atoms in our bodies as compared to all other elements combined. Specifically, hydrogen counts as 63% of our atoms by number, give or take a bit, but being so light it barely gets to 1-0% of our mass. Oxygen atoms count as 24% and carbon atoms are a mere 12% of the populations. Together, our three basic organic building blocks account for 99% of all the atoms in the body.
Caveat:
As was said above, the water content of the human body weight varieties between 55 to 65 % from one person to the next and being the major component changes the numbers above a little for each individual.
Summary:
Almost 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of the six elements oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus.
Most of the last 1% is made up of five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium, but a tenth of a percent or so is made up of another dozen or so elements which include those recognized as essential to health such as iron, iodine and fluorine as well as beneficial trace elements like manganese, copper and zinc.
Short Answer:
By weight, oxygen makes up approximately 65% of the human body.
Numerically, hydrogen approaches 65% of the total number of atoms in the human body, but it is probably closer to 63% for most people.
Accounting by Mass:
The mass of the human body is provided mostly by oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen. Together these elements account for about 96% of the mass of a human.
Add in about a kilogram of calcium in the bones and body fluids and you are up to 97.4%. All of this depends on the particular person since water, our major component, can differ by 10% from one individual to another.
That said, typically the breakdown goes like this.
Oxygen: 65% of the mass
Carbon: 18% of the mass
Hydrogen: 10% of the mass
Nitrogen: 3% of the mass
Calcium: 1.4 % of the mass
Phosphorus 1.1% of the mass
With phosphorus, one has accounted for 98.5% of the mass of the typical human and that will change by a couple of tenths from person to person.
Short Answer:
By weight, oxygen makes up approximately 65% of the human body.
Numerically, hydrogen approaches 65% of the total number of atoms in the human body, but it is probably closer to 63% for most people.
Accounting by Mass:
The mass of the human body is provided mostly by oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen. Together these elements account for about 96% of the mass of a human.
Add in about a kilogram of calcium in the bones and body fluids and you are up to 97.4%. All of this depends on the particular person since water, our major component, can differ by 10% from one individual to another.
That said, typically the breakdown goes like this.
Oxygen: 65% of the mass
Carbon: 18% of the mass
Hydrogen: 10% of the mass
Nitrogen: 3% of the mass
Calcium: 1.4 % of the mass
Phosphorus 1.1% of the mass
With phosphorus, one has accounted for 98.5% of the mass of the typical human and that will change by a couple of tenths from person to person.
Accounting by Numbers:
Numerically we have nearly twice as many hydrogen atoms in our bodies as compared to all other elements combined. Specifically, hydrogen counts as 63% of our atoms by number, give or take a bit, but being so light it barely gets to 10% of our mass. Oxygen atoms count as 24% and carbon atoms are a mere 12% of the populations. Together, our three basic organic building blocks account for 99% of all the atoms in the body.
Caveat:
As was said above, the water content of the human body weight varieties between 55 to 65 % from one person to the next and being the major component changes the numbers above a little for each individual.
Summary:
Almost 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of the six elements oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus.
Most of the last 1% is made up of five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium, but a tenth of a percent or so is made up of another dozen or so elements which include those recognized as essential to health such as iron, iodine and fluorine as well as beneficial trace elements like manganese, copper and zinc.
Water
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In number of atoms (element) hydrogen is the most abundant, not in mass.
Oxygen is the most abundant element in a human, and on average is responsible for 33% of the body's mass. Carbon follows with 10%.
Calcium provides about 1.4-1.6 % of the mass of the human body. It is only .24 % of total number of atoms, but it weighs more than most. An adult person has about a kilogram of calcium in their body.
True
nucleus
oxygen
based on our fundemental constituant being Carbon and its adherance to oxygen as CO2 and Hydrogen H2O (being 70% approx of body mass), then on mass is would be Oxygen.
In number of atoms (element) hydrogen is the most abundant, not in mass.
Hydrogen is the most common element in our galaxy.
Oxygen is the most abundant element in a human, and on average is responsible for 33% of the body's mass. Carbon follows with 10%.
CARBON
Calcium provides about 1.4-1.6 % of the mass of the human body. It is only .24 % of total number of atoms, but it weighs more than most. An adult person has about a kilogram of calcium in their body.
Calcium is the 5th most abundant element of human body and makes of 1.5 % of it by mass. 99% of calcium is found in teeth and bones.
True
is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O.Because it comprises most of the mass in water, oxygen comprises most of the mass of living organisms (for example, about two-thirds of the human body's mass)Oxygen is a member of the chalcoqen groupof the periodic table.
the element labeled X is the most abundant element in the body. what is element X
2nd most common element in the human body. Roughly 18% of our total mass