Why is iron the most common element on earth?

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If you only scratch the surface, you will never know the full truth. This also applies to research into the question of what is the most abundant element on earth. Examining a small subset of the total would never reveal the correct answer, namely iron.

The interior of the earth consists to a high percentage of iron.
The interior of the earth consists to a high percentage of iron.

A large proportion of the earth consists of the element iron

When it comes to the percentage of the various elements found on earth, there are two ways: sorting according to the amount of the respective share in order to determine the most frequently occurring ones can.

  • If the earth's crust is used as a basis for assessment, iron is only the fourth most common element in the "hit list" with 6% and is therefore behind oxygen, silicon and aluminum. However, if one calculates the proportion in relation to the entire planet, then iron ranks first with 35%. Rank.
  • Because of the 100 chemical elements that occur on this planet, 8 are enough to make up 99% of the earth's mass it is not surprising that there are high percentages in the top ranks got to.

Reasons why iron is the most common element

  • The formation of the globe is now considered to be largely researched and has already been adequately described several times. It is therefore common knowledge that the interior of the 3rd The planets of the solar system consist of a solid inner core and a surrounding liquid outer core, which in turn is surrounded by the so-called earth's mantle.
  • The covered area of ​​the earth's interior consists of approx. 80% iron, which is there when the planet is formed by the rotation of gas and dust eddies as well as suspected core meltdown processes was bound, which also the further growth of the earth's mass made possible.
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  • Although the core takes up relatively little space compared to the total volume of the earth, its density makes it the leader in terms of weight. For this reason, the 6% that this element has within the earth's crust becomes 35% in the total, which makes iron the most common component on earth.

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