Answer to Question #933 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

How many elements occur naturally without any processing to get them (like you could go pick them off the ground)? And what are they?

A

Out of the first 92 elements, 1 being hydrogen (H) and 92 being uranium (U), there are 90 that are naturally occuring. Technetium (Tc) and promethium (Pm) are man-made elements and do not have any isotopes occuring naturally. But even though these elements occur naturally, very few are found in the elemental state. Even fewer are in a form or in enough quantity so that one could pick them up. Most of the elements occur only in compounds with other elements. One of the most common compounds of elements are the oxides, which is the compound that is produced when an element "rusts" in the presence of oxygen. Some are very reactive with air or water and do not last long in their elemental state, even if produced. Other elements, due to the arrangement of the outer shell of electrons, are very reactive with other elements and are never found out of a compound. Out of these 90 elements, 9 are gases and are usually found in their elemental states. Since many of them are inert gases, they are hard to find and even harder to pick up. There are 4 liquids: bromine (Br), cesium (Cs), gallium (Ga), and mercury (Hg). Mercury is the only one found in the elemental form in nature and only rarely and in very small amounts. There are about 12 trace elements that do occur in their elemental form in nature, but these are in trace amounts and you would not find them in amounts that are recognizable. One of the elements was said to have only several grams of elemental metal found in the crust of the earth. So that leaves the elements that are present in big enough pieces to where you can see and pick up. These elements are bismuth (Bi), carbon (C), copper (Cu), gold (Au), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), silver (Ag), and sulfur (S). Each of these can be found in veins or deposits in collectable amounts.

Ken Krieger, CHP