# Highest and Lowest utilized elements ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766 "2019-02-18T14:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/1 "2019-02-18T14:31:22Z")
Inspired by the thread on useless elements. So I’d like to define the relative use of an element to be a ratio of A and B where : A = Per annum quantity (weight) used by humans of the element either pure or in a compound. B = Relative abundance of the element on earth If we were to take the above ratio, which elements will be on top versus the bottom of the list ? (I am guessing Gold and Platinum to be on top but not sure what will be at the bottom) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/2 "2019-02-18T14:38:20Z")
By “on Earth”, do you mean the bulk of the planet (including its mostly-iron core), or its crust (which is accessible to humans)? Either way, I’m guessing that the highest utilization (as you’ve defined it) will be either plutonium or americium. Both have natural abundances so low that they’re usually described as zero, and exist almost entirely as synthesized by humans. There’s a lot more plutonium used, but I don’t know precisely how great either of their effectively-zero natural abundances are, so americium might be enough rarer to make up for that. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/3 "2019-02-18T15:31:01Z")
> **[Abundance of the chemical elements | Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_the_chemical_elements#Earth)** > > The Earth formed from the same cloud of matter that formed the Sun, but the planets acquired different compositions during the formation and evolution of the Solar System. In turn, the natural history of the Earth caused parts of this planet to have differing concentrations of the elements. > The mass of the Earth is approximately 5.97×1024 kg. In bulk, by mass, it is composed mostly of iron (32.1%), oxygen (30.1%), silicon (15.1%), magnesium (13.9%), sulfur (2.9%), nickel (1.8%), calcium (1.5%), ... > [@](#): > > The mass of the Earth is approximately 5.98×1024 kg. In bulk, by mass, it is composed mostly of iron (32.1%), oxygen (30.1%), silicon (15.1%), magnesium (13.9%), sulfur (2.9%), nickel (1.8%), calcium (1.5%), and aluminium (1.4%); with the remaining 1.2% consisting of trace amounts of other elements.[12] thats 91% of earth’s mass from 4 elements. I’m surprised carbon isn’t on that list but I guess not. As was mentioned, the manmade elements are probably the most utilized. Also the rare earth elements are probably utilized quite a bit, because they are used to make alternative energy and computing products. Supposedly earth is facing a helium shortage, so theres that too. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/4 "2019-02-18T16:08:09Z")
The “rare earths” aren’t actually all that rare. They’re found everywhere in low concentrations. All that’s rare is places where they’re concentrated enough to be economical to mine. Sure, they’re rare compared to the likes of iron and silicon, but they’re also used in much lower quantities. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/5 "2019-02-18T17:41:36Z")
Another [Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth%27s_crust) shows (five estimates of) abundance in crust and “annual production.” (Does this “production” figure just refer to production or mining of that element in its elemental form?) Just for fun, I ran this data through the obvious arithmetic to get a sorted list which might be related to OP’s quest … EXCEPT that 33 elements have a blank under “annual production” and another 14 pre-Uranium elements are omitted altogether. The 14 omitted elements include the noble gases, 6 radioactive elements, and two rare earths. The 33 elements where “production” is blank (shown as “(NP)” below) are a more motley crew: they include several rare earths and other rarish elements, but also important elements like hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, phosphorus, chlorine. I may as well show the resultant list, as useless as it may be. Highest scoring by OP’s criterion are Nitrogen, Gold and Tellurium! Lowest are Thallium, Silicon, Magnesium. 15.1 81 Tl thallium 60 26.0 14 Si silicon 2 43.1 12 Mg magnesium 7 90.4 4 Be beryllium 48 98.9 32 Ge germanium 53 195.6 39 Y yttrium 30 533.3 23 V vanadium 20 578.9 73 Ta tantalum 52 705.3 13 Al aluminium 3 954.5 38 Sr strontium 16 1161.9 22 Ti titanium 9 1590.6 74 W tungsten 19 1842.1 3 Li lithium 33 3368.4 41 Nb niobium 34 4281.0 49 In indium 68 4920.0 27 Co cobalt 32 7945.5 40 Zr zirconium 18 10167.4 11 Na sodium 6 16326.5 25 Mn manganese 12 20270.2 28 Ni nickel 24 20277.7 33 As arsenic 55 22047.5 26 Fe iron 4 28493.1 46 Pd palladium 74 29111.1 5 B boron 41 32941.7 92 U uranium 51 38270.2 75 Re rhenium 75 44000.0 34 Se selenium 67 44102.5 78 Pt platinum 71 66831.6 80 Hg mercury 66 87777.7 53 I iodine 63 125373.1 50 Sn tin 49 159375.0 30 Zn zinc 25 164141.4 24 Cr chromium 22 168292.6 48 Cd cadmium 64 169024.3 16 S sulfur 17 179210.5 42 Mo molybdenum 54 203292.8 35 Br bromine 59 279136.6 29 Cu copper 26 360000.0 47 Ag silver 65 375460.1 83 Bi bismuth 69 380526.3 82 Pb lead 37 650000.0 51 Sb antimony 62 942857.1 52 Te tellurium 70 1134146.3 79 Au gold 72 4912280.7 7 N nitrogen 31 (NP) 8 O oxygen 1 (NP) 20 Ca calcium 5 (NP) 19 K potassium 8 (NP) 1 H hydrogen 10 (NP) 15 P phosphorus 11 (NP) 9 F fluorine 13 (NP) 56 Ba barium 14 (NP) 6 C carbon 15 (NP) 17 Cl chlorine 21 (NP) 37 Rb rubidium 23 (NP) 58 Ce cerium 27 (NP) 60 Nd neodymium 28 (NP) 57 La lanthanum 29 (NP) 31 Ga gallium 35 (NP) 21 Sc scandium 36 (NP) 62 Sm samarium 38 (NP) 90 Th thorium 39 (NP) 59 Pr praseodymium 40 (NP) 64 Gd gadolinium 42 (NP) 66 Dy dysprosium 43 (NP) 72 Hf hafnium 44 (NP) 68 Er erbium 45 (NP) 70 Yb ytterbium 46 (NP) 55 Cs caesium 47 (NP) 63 Eu europium 50 (NP) 67 Ho holmium 56 (NP) 65 Tb terbium 57 (NP) 69 Tm thulium 58 (NP) 71 Lu lutetium 61 (NP) 44 Ru ruthenium 73 (NP) 77 Ir iridium 76 (NP) 45 Rh rhodium 77 (NP) 76 Os osmium 78 (The 1st column is annual production divided by crust concentration, 2nd is atomic number, 5th is rank order of crust concentration.) ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/6 "2019-02-21T15:45:19Z")
Thank you septimus. I was surprised to see Tellurium. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/7 "2019-02-21T16:48:21Z")
I think the first part, how much humans use, needs to also be defined a little better. Do we “use” all of the oxygen in the atmosphere, or do we need to calculate how much of is used by humans for respiratory purposes? What about the nitrogen, which we don’t use directly like we do with the oxygen, but which if it wasn’t there we would lose roughly 4/5 of the atmospheric pressure? ETA. I would guess that argon, at almost 1% of the atmosphere but with little use, would probably be at the bottom of the list. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/8 "2019-02-21T17:21:56Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > ETA. I would guess that argon, at almost 1% of the atmosphere but with little use, would probably be at the bottom of the list. Nah, argon has [a number of uses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argon#Applications), including filling the bulbs of incandescent lights to extend their life. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/9 "2019-02-21T18:30:59Z")
It may be more interesting to talk about _isotopes_ rather than elements. Plutonium-238, for example, can only be manufactured in nuclear reactors, and is in extremely short supply, to the point where NASA had to switch to other power sources for some interplanetary probes. Some other isotopes of plutonium are far more plentiful (relatively speaking). ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/10 "2019-02-21T20:12:30Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > What about the nitrogen, which we don’t use directly like we do with the oxygen, but which if it wasn’t there we would lose roughly 4/5 of the atmospheric pressure? It’s got some other huge indirect uses because it’s an essential element for plant growth. If it weren’t for nitrogen we wouldn’t anything to eat. Even without losing atmospheric pressure we’d also be pretty screwed if plants couldn’t break up atmospheric CO2 during photosynthesis to create the oxygen in the atmosphere. It’s so common the ratio probably doesn’t work out well for the OP even if we include those vital indirect contributions. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/11 "2019-02-21T23:16:35Z")
We need nitrogen, too; we just get it from plants. All proteins contain nitrogen. The tricky part is that nitrogen really likes to be a gas, as opposed to being a part of some other molecule. It’s hard work to turn atmospheric nitrogen into something that can be used directly in living things, and relatively few organisms are able to do it to any practical degree. All the rest must take advantage of symbiotic relationships with those nitrogen-fixers. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-and-lowest-utilized-elements/829766/12 "2019-02-23T13:06:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > By “on Earth”, do you mean the bulk of the planet (including its mostly-iron core), or its crust (which is accessible to humans)? > > Either way, I’m guessing that the highest utilization (as you’ve defined it) will be either plutonium or americium. Both have natural abundances so low that they’re usually described as zero, and exist almost entirely as synthesized by humans. There’s a lot more plutonium used, but I don’t know precisely how great either of their effectively-zero natural abundances are, so americium might be enough rarer to make up for that. Yes, this. Americium, and AFAIK Plutonium, would have a ratio of 1, as there isn’t ANY of the element that wasn’t manmade and in use (if having been made into an object that is getting used some of the time counts as “in use”). So would Promethium, and probably several other radioactive elements. This is assuming your “B” isn’t based on the natural abundance on earth. If by “B” you mean natural relative abundance, then the ratio might be infinite or so large as to be difficult to estimate.