Revisiting the Periodic Table, I wanted to think about ways to visualise which elements make up the human body. Most depictions only account for the main elements: Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Calcium, lumping the rest of them into a catch-all category called ‘other’.
But I feel that even though the remaining elements that make up our bodies are found in tiny trace amounts, they still matter and must serve some purpose, even if Science hasn’t figured out their uses yet.
I would also argue that the remaining elements (aside from the human-made elements) that are currently not listed as being found in the human body, even in trace amounts, are still there, but are currently undetectable by the current Scientific technology available for us to measure (but that is purely conjecture).
The trace amount are of particular importance since gold is found in Human blood in trace amounts. Since humans have been fascinated by gold for time immemorial, over say, cadmium or tin (also found in humans in trace amounts), this is a good focus area for my work. I really enjoy working with gold, even more so after learning that it comes from neutron star collisions. This is a strong consideration when thinking about audiencing and social media.
Sources:
Helmenstein, AM (2022). Printable Periodic Tables. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/printable-periodic-tables-4064198 (Accessed 12 November 2024)
Nasa Website Contributors (2024) Cosmic History. Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/universe/overview/ (Accessed 5 June 2024)
Nasa Website Contributors (2024) Origin of the Elements. Available at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013800/a013873/PeriodicTableOrigins2.png (Accessed 5 June 2024)
Periodic Table Website Authors (2017) Earth’s Crust Abundance. Available at:https://periodictable.com/Properties/A/CrustAbundance.al.log.html (Accessed 19 February 2024)
Periodic Table Website Authors (2017) Human Abundance. Available at:https://periodictable.com/Properties/A/HumanAbundance.al.log.html (Accessed 19 February 2024)
Periodic Table Website Authors (2017) Meteorite Abundance. Periodic Table Database Website. Available athttps://periodictable.com/Properties/A/MeteoriteAbundance.htm (Accessed 19 February 2024)
Periodic Table Website Authors (2017) Ocean Abundance. Available at:https://periodictable.com/Properties/A/OceanAbundance.al.log.html (Accessed 19 February 2024)
Periodic Table Website Authors (2017) Solar Abundance. Available at:https://periodictable.com/Properties/A/SolarAbundance.al.log.html (Accessed 19 February 2024)
Periodic Table Website Authors (2017) Universe Abundance. Available at:https://periodictable.com/Properties/A/UniverseAbundance.al.log.html (Accessed 19 February 2024)
Debbie New 
