How many atoms are you made up of?

N. Datta Education, Science & Technology

Have you ever wondered exactly how many atoms you’re made up of? Or maybe specifically how many hydrogen atoms and how many oxygen atoms are there in your body?

Well, the folks over at foresight.org have done the maths and according to them, an average 70-kg male human body contains almost 7 × 1027 atoms. Yes, that’s a whole lot of atoms!

Learn German           The History of Meat Consumption

Although 41 different chemical elements are commonly found in the human body’s construction, Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen comprise 99% of its atoms. 87% of human body atoms are either Hydrogen or Oxygen. According to the estimates, 4.22 x 1027 of the atoms are Hydrogen atoms while 1.61 x 1027 are Oxygen.

Here’s the complete list of 41 elements and their respective presence:

Element Sym # of Atoms  Element Sym # of Atoms Element  Sym # of Atoms
Hydrogen H 4.22 x 1027 Rubidium Rb 2.2 x 1021 Zirconium Zr 2 x 1019
Oxygen O 1.61 x 1027 Strontium Sr 2.2 x 1021 Cobalt Co 2 x 1019
Carbon C 8.03 x 1026 Bromine Br 2 x 1021 Cesium Cs 7 x 1018
Nitrogen N 3.9 x 1025 Aluminum Al 1 x 1021 Mercury Hg 6 x 1018
Calcium Ca 1.6 x 1025 Copper Cu 7 x 1020 Arsenic As 6 x 1018
Phosphorus P 9.6 x 1024 Lead Pb 3 x 1020 Chromium Cr 6 x 1018
Sulfur S 2.6 x 1024 Cadmium Cd 3 x 1020 Molybdenum Mo 3 x 1018
Sodium Na 2.5 x 1024 Boron B 2 x 1020 Selenium Se 3 x 1018
Potassium K 2.2 x 1024 Manganese Mn 1 x 1020 Beryllium Be 3 x 1018
Chlorine Cl 1.6 x 1024 Nickel Ni 1 x 1020 Vanadium V 8 x 1017
Magnesium Mg 4.7 x 1023 Lithium Li 1 x 1020 Uranium U 2 x 1017
Silicon Si 3.9 x 1023 Barium Ba 8 x 1019 Radium Ra 8 x 1010
Fluorine F 8.3 x 1022 Iodine I 5 x 1019
Iron Fe 4.5 x 1022 Tin Sn 4 x 1019
Zinc Zn 2.1 x 1022 Gold Au 2 x 1019 TOTAL 6.71 x 1027

 

Since atoms make up all ordinary matter, and mass is basically a measurement of the quantity of matter, you can use this data to estimate the number of atoms in any person if you know his/her mass. (Yes, it’s always going to be an estimate.) So, if typically 70 kg worth of human is made up of 7 × 1027 atoms, that means every 1 kg of human is made up of 1026 atoms. So, if you have a guy that weighs 85 kg, he would be made up of approximately 8.5 × 1027 atoms (85 × 1026).

Leave a Reply