What Is The Most Common Element In The Earth S Crust

Although most people know silicon dioxide as sand this compound can also be found in the form of quartz and rock crystals.

After the most abundant elements most elements become much harder to find. If you imagine silicon gel or wiring like the stuff that is needed for computer components it is hard to picture it occurring naturally. The most common elements on earth are oxygen silicon aluminum and iron. 98 4 of the earth s crust consists of oxygen silicon aluminum iron calcium sodium potassium and magnesium.

3 6 for those who don t know the earth s crust is just 3 44 miles thick and represents less than 1 of the earth s total. Oxygen makes up about 46 percent of earth by weight while silicon makes up about 28 percent and aluminum and iron make up approximately 8 and 5 5 percent respectively. It readily combines with silicon si to form silicate minerals or with iron fe to form various iron ore compounds. They must be refined into silicon.

The first and second elements most commonly found in earth crust also form silicon dioxide the most common compound in the earth s crust. Therefore the silicates are the most common group of minerals on earth. This list might have ten of the most common but there are over 3000 minerals known to be in the earth crust which would have made a very long list indeed. Estimates of elemental abundance are difficult because a the composition of the upper and lower crust are quite different and b the composition of the continental crust can vary.

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Most of the minerals in the earth are silicate minerals. Oxygen is a highly reactive element capable of combining with many other elements to form compounds. Oxygen o 2 is by far the most abundant element in earth s crust at 46 6 percent nearly half of the mass of the crust. All other elements account for approximately 1 6 of the volume of the earth s crust.

They will vary depending on the way they were calculated and the source. They make up between 95 97 these numbers vary depending on the study you are reading but it is accepted that the. Oxygen is the most common element in the earth s crust hydrogen is the most abundant element in the known universe but only makes number 10 most abundant elements in the earth s crust aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earth s crust. The majority of the earth s crust is made up of silicates.

The silicate tetrahedron consists of four oxygen atoms arranged as close as they can get around a central silicon atom. Silicon is one of the most common earth elements and one of the least used.