Adapted from "Elemental Composition of the Human Body," Ed Uthman, MD
The table below lists the amount of each chemical element found in the human body from greatest to least abundant. The listing contains each element and the amount in mass units in an average, 175 pound (70-kilogram) body, together with the volume of the element, and the length of a cube side containing the pure element.
Volumes of solid and liquid elements are based on density at or near room temperature. For gas elements such as oxygen and hydrogen, the density of each is the liquid state at their respective boiling points.
Raw data is from The Elements by John Emsley, 3rd ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998.
Table of Human Body Composition
A = Mass of element in a 70-kg (175 lb) body.
B = Volume of purified element
C = Element would comprise a cube this long on one side:
ELEMENT (A) (B) (C)
oxygen 43 kg 37 L 33.5 cm
carbon 16 kg 7.08 L 19.2 cm
hydrogen 7 kg 98.6 L 46.2 cm
nitrogen 1.8 kg 2.05 L 12.7 cm
calcium 1.0 kg 645 mL 8.64 cm
phosphorus 780 g 429 mL 7.54 cm
potassium 140 g 162 mL 5.46 cm
sulfur 140 g 67.6 mL 4.07 cm
sodium 100 g 103 mL 4.69 cm
chlorine 95 g 63 mL 3.98 cm
magnesium 19 g 10.9 mL 2.22 cm
iron 4.2 g 0.53 mL 8.1 mm
fluorine 2.6 g 1.72 mL 1.20 cm
zinc 2.3 g 0.32 mL 6.9 mm
silicon 1.0 g 0.43 mL 7.5 mm
rubidium 0.68 g 0.44 mL 7.6 mm
strontium 0.32 g 0.13 mL 5.0 mm
bromine 0.26 g 64.2 µL 4.0 mm
lead 0.12 g 10.6 µL 2.2 mm
copper 72 mg 8.04 µL 2.0 mm
aluminum 60 mg 22 µL 2.8 mm
cadmium 50 mg 5.78 µL 1.8 mm
cerium 40 mg 4.85 µL 1.7 mm
barium 22 mg 6.12 µL 1.8 mm
iodine 20 mg 4.06 µL 1.6 mm
tin 20 mg 3.48 µL 1.5 mm
titanium 20 mg 4.41 µL 1.6 mm
boron 18 mg 7.69 µL 2.0 mm
nickel 15 mg 1.69 µL 1.2 mm
selenium 15 mg 3.13 µL 1.5 mm
chromium 14 mg 1.95 µL 1.3 mm
manganese 12 mg 1.61 µL 1.2 mm
arsenic 7 mg 1.21 µL 1.1 mm
lithium 7 mg 13.1 µL 2.4 mm
cesium 6 mg 3.2 µL 1.5 mm
mercury 6 mg 0.44 µL 0.8 mm
germanium 5 mg 0.94 µL 1.0 mm
molybdenum 5 mg 0.49 µL 0.8 mm
cobalt 3 mg 0.34 µL 0.7 mm
antimony 2 mg 0.30 µL 0.7 mm
silver 2 mg 0.19 µL 0.6 mm
niobium 1.5 mg 0.18 µL 0.6 mm
zirconium 1 mg 0.15 µL 0.54 mm
lanthanium 0.8 mg 0.13 µL 0.51 mm
gallium 0.7 mg 0.12 µL 0.49 mm
tellurium 0.7 mg 0.11 µL 0.48 mm
yttrium 0.6 mg 0.13 µL 0.51 mm
bismuth 0.5 mg 51 nL 0.37 mm
thallium 0.5 mg 42 nL 0.35 mm
indium 0.4 mg 55 nL 0.38 mm
gold 0.2 mg 10 nL 0.22 mm
scandium 0.2 mg 67 nL 0.41 mm
tantalum 0.2 mg 12 nL 0.23 mm
vanadium 0.11 mg 18 nL 0.26 mm
thorium 0.1 mg 8.5 nL 0.20 mm
uranium 0.1 mg 5.3 nL 0.17 mm
samarium 50 µg 6.7 nL 0.19 mm
beryllium 36 µg 20 nL 0.27 mm
tungsten 20 µg 1.0 nL 0.10 mm
Notes:
Oxygen is the most abundant element in the earth's crust and in the body. The body's 43 kilograms of oxygen is found mostly as a component of water, which makes up 70% of total body weight.
Oxygen is also an integral component of all proteins, nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), carbohydrates, and fats.
Rubidium is the most abundant element in the body (0.68 g) that has no known biological role (silicon, which is slightly more abundant, may or may not have a metabolic function).
Vanadium is the body's least abundant element (0.11 mg) that has a known biologic role, followed by cobalt (3 mg), the latter being a constituent of vitamin B12.
The last of the body's elements to be discovered was fluorine, by Moissan in 1886.
