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What is the least abundant element on the earth's atmosphere?

Question #69317. Asked by niale.

Related Trivia Topics: Sci / Tech  
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elburcher
Answer has 4 votes
Currently Best Answer
elburcher
24 year member
1523 replies avatar

Answer has 4 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
The order of elements in the atmosphere is nitrogen (78.1%), oxygen (20.9%), argon (0.96%), followed by (in uncertain order) carbon and hydrogen. The carbon and hydrogen concentrations are variable for a number of reasons, including human activity. Sulfur, phosphorus, and all other elements are present in significantly lower proportions.

According to the above graphic, argon, a significant if not major component of the atmosphere, does not appear in the crust at all.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_the_chemical_elements#Atmosphere


Aug 04 2006, 10:01 PM
davejacobs
Answer has 0 votes
davejacobs
22 year member
956 replies

Answer has 0 votes.
Difficult to answer this; all those that do not occur at all I suppose, like iron, uranium, gold, etc.

Aug 05 2006, 6:43 AM
Krisburs
Answer has 3 votes
Krisburs

Answer has 3 votes.
A difficult question to answer because there are a lot of "trace elements" in the atmosphere, which without our help would not normally be there.

Francium is the least abundant element on earth because it is the most unstable. It has a half-life of 22 minutes and estimates suggest that only one atom of naturally occurring Francium exsists on the Earth at any one time. If this were to get into the atmosphere, theres the answer!

Aug 05 2006, 9:11 AM
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