Why oxygen is the most abundant element?

[Pradeepkumar]

Oxygen is the most abundant element ,isn't?

But its percentage in the atmosphere(21%) is less than that of Nitrogen(78%)

Then why nitrogen is not considered the most abundant element

[insane_alien]

considering the universe, hydrogen is actually the most abundant, with around 99% of the universe being composed of it.

 

on earth however, it is oxygen. it is not just in the atmosphere, it is in the water and solids of the earth. infact nearly ALL ores we get metals from are oxides of the particular metal. sand has oxygen, rocks have oxygen. its everywhere. nitrogen is mainly in the atmosphere. the atmosphere is only a small part of the earth.

[Royston]

considering the universe, hydrogen is actually the most abundant, with around 99% of the universe being composed of it.

 

Sorry to be pedantic, but hydrogen makes up roughly 75% of the atoms in the universe, followed by helium, then a few percent for heavier elements. Your sentence could be easily misinterpreted that the universe is made of 99% hydrogen...considering that the universe only comprises of roughly 5% matter, that figure is slightly off

 

I know that isn't what you meant, just making sure Pradeep doesn't misread.

[insane_alien]

gah, i just wentt and reread my source, it was something else entirely. whoopsie.

[pioneer]

Hydrogen is number 1, helium number 2 then oxygen is 3. For some reason fusion prefers to go all the way to oxygen with the atoms in the middle (3 to 7) more like intermediate products, since their percentages are significantly lower than O.

 

One possible way to look at it, is He4, is a tetrahedron of sorts, due to four nucleons. While O16, which is the most common isotope if O might be sort of a tetrahedron of a tetrahedron. There may be a nuclear stability in this since it appears to be the preferred product.

 

What is interesting is H2O is the second most abundant molecule in the universe, behind H2. Within this range is the energetics of the living state. Life forms in the universally sweet spot. Since fusion from H to O will give off a lot of energy, the nucleon, H proton, at some level, has more potential energy than the average nucleons within O, based on an energy balance. The extra octane in the H, relative to O, might account for the very unique properties water. It is called hydrogen bonding out of respect for H.

[joshuam168]

Hydrogen is number 1, helium number 2 then oxygen is 3.

Please clarify, are you speaking of abundance in the universe or the periodic table? If you are talking about the periodic table then oxygen is number 8.

[Klaynos]

There's an abundunce of oxygen due to the CNO cycle, which is an energy generation method in certain stars... CNO is cool! (Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen)

 

[pedantic] Snail, when you say 'atoms' are you including the single protons that are inside stars? As they're completely ionised and don't have neutrons...

[Gilded]

Oxygen is indeed the third most abundant element in the universe according to current observations, both by mass and by number. One of the physics experts can probably explain why the fusion tends so much toward oxygen so that lithium, beryllium and boron are essentially "skipped" (low fusion energies?).

[foodchain]

Hydrogen is number 1, helium number 2 then oxygen is 3. For some reason fusion prefers to go all the way to oxygen with the atoms in the middle (3 to 7) more like intermediate products, since their percentages are significantly lower than O.

 

One possible way to look at it, is He4, is a tetrahedron of sorts, due to four nucleons. While O16, which is the most common isotope if O might be sort of a tetrahedron of a tetrahedron. There may be a nuclear stability in this since it appears to be the preferred product.

 

What is interesting is H2O is the second most abundant molecule in the universe, behind H2. Within this range is the energetics of the living state. Life forms in the universally sweet spot. Since fusion from H to O will give off a lot of energy, the nucleon, H proton, at some level, has more potential energy than the average nucleons within O, based on an energy balance. The extra octane in the H, relative to O, might account for the very unique properties water. It is called hydrogen bonding out of respect for H.

 

Yes but a single organism even a microbe is just not a exothermic reaction as a result of hydrogen bonding, you have a lot of variance not to mention cycles with layers of complexity and so on. Here is a thing, hydrogen peroxide, why is that rather harmful to living things? Its just hydrogen and oxygen, but it also does not seem to equate into something healthy really. Plus anaerobes exist, so again you deal with some level of confliction not to mention you could easily say this about carbon, or heck iron. I think this shares in thinking DNA is the key to life when you really cant disqualify such a statement currently, such as life has to have DNA in order to exist, life in the case of a virus does not even need to be a cell in order to live or at least be biological phenomena.

 

I think origin of life questions are rather complex. Following phylogenic relationships at some point you reach the autotrophic layer which happens to also include the oldest species on earth. I think if you look at the life history of such autotrophic organisms tend to deal with chemical energy or sunlight. I think the fixers are also older then the photosynthetic species which I also think this is regular fact.

 

Going from what I know about chemistry something must have been initiating these reactions, at least at the extent the environment maintained enough energy such as thermal energy to keep the reaction process going. I think if evidence could mount for say thermophiles being the oldest of the prokaryotes you could have a possible candidate for study, then again this is my biased opinion.

[Klaynos]

Oxygen is indeed the third most abundant element in the universe according to current observations, both by mass and by number. One of the physics experts can probably explain why the fusion tends so much toward oxygen so that lithium, beryllium and boron are essentially "skipped" (low fusion energies?).

 

CNO!!!!

 

Well C is the most abundent result of the tripple alpha burning process which is a result of P-P chain reactions (which is the type of fusion our sun does mostly), and stars that are a bit bigger do CNO burning....

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-alpha_process

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton-proton_chain_reaction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNO_cycle

 

There are other burning processes but they pale in comparison to them.

[Gilded]

CNO!!!!

 

Yeah I got it, didn't refresh the page before I replied.

[Klaynos]

Yeah I got it, didn't refresh the page before I replied.

 

I thought it might have been my poorly written reply... I was quite tired when I wrote both hence the shout of "CNO!!!"

[Royston]

[pedantic] Snail, when you say 'atoms' are you including the single protons that are inside stars? As they're completely ionised and don't have neutrons...

 

Not sure, they're just rough percentages that I remember reading in Hyperphysics, and covered in an early course IIRC. Possibly a silly question, but are protium ions actually classed as atoms ? I know they're classed as cations, but they're essentially just baryons.

[Klaynos]

Not sure, they're just rough percentages that I remember reading in Hyperphysics, and covered in an early course IIRC. Possibly a silly question, but are protium ions actually classed as atoms ? I know they're classed as cations, but they're essentially just baryons.

 

I would say no they're not atoms. But whether your source agrees with me or not is another matter... Because the amount of protons that are in stars could make a difference.

[Royston]

Because the amount of protons that are in stars could make a difference.

 

Well I've just read that protium makes up 99.9855 % of hydrogen in the universe, and if this includes protium ions, then there could be quite a discrepancy, as you say.

 

Interesting, might be worth looking into. Especially as wiki, hyperphysics et.c quote the 74% abundance of hydrogen in the universe, but I can't find anything that states if this includes protium ions...unless somebody already knows.

[DeanK2]

The three most abundant elements:

1.) Hydrogen

2.) Helium

3.) Lithium

(universe)

[Gilded]

The three most abundant elements:

1.) Hydrogen

2.) Helium

3.) Lithium

(universe)

 

Did you read this thread at all? Lithium isn't the third most abundant element in the universe.