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The hydrogen cycle consists of hydrogen exchanges between biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) sources and sinks of hydrogen-containing compounds. Hydrogen (H) is the most abundant element in the universe. [1] On Earth, common H-containing inorganic molecules include water (H 2 O), hydrogen gas (H 2), hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), and ammonia ...
Parts-per-million cube of relative abundance by mass of elements in an average adult human body down to 1 ppm. About 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Only about 0.85% is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium ...
By some definitions, "organic" compounds are only required to contain carbon. However, most of them also contain hydrogen, and because it is the carbon-hydrogen bond that gives this class of compounds most of its particular chemical characteristics, carbon-hydrogen bonds are required in some definitions of the word "organic" in chemistry. [87]
Carbon-based photosynthesis life caused a rise in oxygen on Earth. This increase of oxygen helped plate tectonics form the first continents. [10] It is frequently assumed in astrobiology that if life exists elsewhere in the Universe, it will also be carbon-based. [11] [12] Critics, like Carl Sagan in 1973, refer to this assumption as carbon ...
A biogeochemical cycle, or more generally a cycle of matter, [1] is the movement and transformation of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms, the atmosphere, and the Earth's crust. Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle. In each cycle, the chemical element or molecule is ...
Most biomolecules are organic compounds, and just four elements—oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen—make up 96% of the human body's mass. But many other elements, such as the various biometals, are also present in small amounts.
Heavier elements were formed during supernovae at the end of a stars lifecycle. Carbon, currently the fourth most abundant chemical element in the universe (after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen), was formed mainly in white dwarf stars, particularly those bigger than twice the mass of the sun. [52]
In the case of chlorination, one of the chlorine atoms replaces a hydrogen atom. The reactions proceed via free-radical pathways, in which the halogen first dissociates into a two neutral radical atoms (homolytic fission). CH 4 + Cl 2 → CH 3 Cl + HCl CH 3 Cl + Cl 2 → CH 2 Cl 2 + HCl. all the way to CCl 4 (carbon tetrachloride) C 2 H 6 + Cl ...