James Munro, age 12, of Calgary, Alta.,Canada, for his question:
What chemicals is the human body made of?
Your body is the most precious thing you will ever own. Its bright eyes sees better than cameras and its mighty muscles move at your command. It is made entirely of chemicals and all its magic is done by chemicals. You may be surprised to learn that the total cash value of all the basic chemical elements in the human body is less than $20.00.
All the solids, liquids and gases in the world are made from about 90 chemical elements. Each element is composed of atoms of one certain hind. The world is built from only ,90 or so different atoms. Assorted atoms unite in molecules, which are the basic particles of chemical compounds. In this way, about 90 chemical elements form at least 600,000 different chemical compounds.
The human body is composed of hundreds of chemical compounds but these are made from only about 30 chemical elements. The bulk of its material is composed from six rather plentiful elements. Let's view this on a percentage basis. The body's entire material is 1000, half of this is 500%, and so on down the scale to 1%, which is one hundreth part.
Your body is 65% oxygen, 18% carbon and 10% hydrogen. Nitrogen accounts for 3%,. Calcium for 2% and phosphorus for 1%. This totals up to 90,%. The final l% is composed of fractions of the chemical elements potassium and sulphur, sodium and chlorine, magnesium, iron and iodine. In addition, there are some 20 other elements present in traces too small to be awarded even a fraction of a percentage. This list of smidgeons includes zinc, copper and other metals silicon, fluorine and other non metals.
Some oxygen atoms are free to work in the living cells. Some are united with atoms of hydrogen in molecules of water. Some unite with carbon and nitrogen, hydrogen and sulphur to form muscle building proteins. The body's calcium forms bone and tooth materials and a host of other chemical compounds.
In nature, sodium is a dangerous chemical and chlorine is a poisonous gas and the body has 0.15% of each of these elements. Most of their atoms, however, are united in the harmless compound sodium chloride which is salt. Some chlorine combines with hydrogen to form the vital digestive juice, hydrochloric acid.
All the body's chemicals are needed, even its traces of odd metals. A tract of copper is needed to make the hemoglobin in the red blood cells and to build tough tooth enamel. Your body has a million skills for remaking and using its many chemicals and most of its magic is done without your help. It asks only that you provide it with proper foods and follow sensible rules to keep it in good working order.