CHEMICAL ELEMENTS

CHEMICAL ELEMENTS

All forms of matter - both living and nonliving- are made up of a limited number of building blocks called chemical elements

Scientists now recognize 117 elements.

Out of these 92 occur naturally in earth.

The rest have been produced from natural elements using particle accelerators or nuclear reactors.

IN HUMAN BODY

26 different chemical elements normally are present in our body.

1. MAJOR ELEMENTS- 4      96% of body mass

2. LESSER ELEMENTS- 8      3.8% of body mass

TRACE ELEMENTS- 14         0.2% of body mass

1. MAJOR ELEMENTS

4 in number

a. OXYGEN- 65%

b. HYDROGEN - 18.5%

c. CARBON - 9.5%

d. NITROGEN-  3.2%


      OXYGEN

                     - part of water and many organic/ carbon containing molecules.

                      - used to generate ATP.

       CARBON

                      - forms backbone chains and rings of all organic molecules: carbohydrates, proteins, fats and nucleic acids(DNA, RNA)


     HYDROGEN

                        - constituent of water and most organic molecules.

                        - ionized form(H+) makes body fluids more acidic.

    NITROGEN

                        - component of all proteins and nucleic acids.


2. LESSER ELEMENTS- 8

1. CALCIUM- 1.5 %

2. PHOSPHORUS- 1 %

3.POTASSIUM- 0.35%

4. SULPHUR- 0.25%

5. SODIUM- 0.2%

6. CHLORINE- 0.2%

7. MAGNESIUM- 0.1%

8. IRON- 0.005%



                 1. CALCIUM

                        - contributes to hardness of bones and teeth.

                        - ionized form (Ca 2+) needed for 
                                                                blood clotting
                                                              release of some hormones
                                                              muscle contraction
                                                              and many other processes.


               2. PHOSPHORUS

                   - component of nucleic acid and 
                                                                 ATP

                   - required for normal bone and tooth structure.

               3. POTASSIUM

                       - ionized form (K+)  is the most plentiful cation in intracellular fluid.


                       - needed to generate action potential.

cation- positively charged particle.

              4. SULPHUR

                      - component of some vitamins and many proteins.


            5.  SODIUM

                   - ionized form (Na+) is the most powerful cation in extracellular fluid.

                    -essential for maintaining water balance.

                    -needed to generate action potential

           6. CHLORINE

                   -ionized form (cl-)  is the most plentiful anion in extracellular fluid.

                   -essential for maintainig water balance

anion- negatively charged particle.

          7. MAGNESIUM

                 -ionized form (Mg2+) neede for action of many enzymes.

         8. IRON

                  -ionized forms (Fe2+, Fe3+) are part of hemoglobin and some enzymes.

TRACE ELEMENTS- 14

1. ALUMINIUM

2. BORON

3. CHROMIUM
4. COBALT
5. COPPER

6. FLUORINE

7.IODINE

8. MANGANESE
9. MOLYBDENUM

10. SELENIUM
11. SILICON

12. TIN

13. VANADIUM

14. ZINC