FIGURE 1 - uploaded by Enrique Macia
Content may be subject to copyright.
1 Plot showing the average cosmic abundance of elements as a function of their atomic number Z. This curve combines data retrieved from spectroscopic observations of the Sun, the Stars, and the interstellar medium (ISM), as well as from cosmic-ray particles and direct chemical analysis of samples collected from Earth, the Moon, Mars, meteorites, asteroids, cometary nuclei and interplanetary dust particles, hence providing the so-called universal (or cosmic) abundances of the elements. Although the obtained chemical distribution curves sometimes differ in detail for particular elements depending on the considered sources, they rarely do so by more than a factor of three on a scale that spans more than 12 orders of magnitude. Source: Greenwood and Earnshaw, 1986; Asplund et al., 2009; Data taken from Lodders, 2003.
Source publication
“This book beautifully traces the stellar origin of the element phosphorous, its chemical properties, and the observations of phosphorous-based molecules and minerals in the interstellar medium and in the solar system. [The author] then connects the astronomical studies with the role of phosphorous played in living organisms, presenting the biochem...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... had also discovered that not all stars equally contribute to the final inventory of chemical elements in the galaxy they inhabit, but less massive stars yield relatively lighter atoms, while more massive stars produce heavier elements. Since less massive stars significantly outnumber more massive ones in typical galaxies, the resulting averaged elemental abundance distribution systematically decreases as the atomic number (Z) increases, according to a nearly exponential decline until Z ~ 42, thereafter decreasing more gradually, as can be seen in Figure 1.1. Along with this general main trend, we can also appreciate some remarkable dips and peaks in the elemental distribution curve, namely, the beryllium, fluorine, and scandium relative dips, on the one hand, and the oxygen, iron, and lead relative peaks, on the other hand. ...
Context 2
... instance, by properly averaging the main biomass constituents of a typical yeast cell, its elemental composition (normalized to the carbon content) can be expressed by the stoichiometric formula H 1.748 CO 0.596 N 0.148 P 0.009 S 0.0019 M 0.0018 , where M stands for metal atoms belonging to the so-called oligo-elements set, including K, Na, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn, which are required in minor quantities only (Lange and Heijnen, 2001). By inspecting the elemental abundance curve depicted in Figure 1.1, and comparing it with the elemental composition of living beings, derived from detailed biochemical analysis, some scientists realized that the four most abundant elements in the universe, with the exception of the noble gases helium and neon, are hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, which are also precisely the four major constituent elements of organic compounds and of living matter (Greenstein, 1961;Oró, 1963). This is illustrated in Figure 1.2, where we can also appreciate that C and P elements are enhanced in biomass as compared to their cosmic abundances. ...
Context 3
... inspecting the elemental abundance curve depicted in Figure 1.1, and comparing it with the elemental composition of living beings, derived from detailed biochemical analysis, some scientists realized that the four most abundant elements in the universe, with the exception of the noble gases helium and neon, are hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, which are also precisely the four major constituent elements of organic compounds and of living matter (Greenstein, 1961;Oró, 1963). This is illustrated in Figure 1.2, where we can also appreciate that C and P elements are enhanced in biomass as compared to their cosmic abundances. ...
Context 4
... the elemental abundance of phosphorus ranks at the fifth (sixth) position in the chemical inventory of unicellular (pluricellular) organisms, respectively. However, by inspecting Figure 1.1, we realize that phosphorus, occupying the eighteenth position in the cosmic elemental abundance ranking, is the less abundant species among the third-row elements of the periodic table, as well as in the group of the main biogenic elements. ...
Context 5
... a release takes place through mass loss processes during the life-cycle of stars, first by means of stellar winds, eventually followed by either the formation of planetary nebulae (in the case of low mass stars) or via supernova (SN) explosions (in the case of high mass stars), all of which being essentially disruptive processes by themselves, ultimately leading to the destruction of the original stellar structure (Trimble, 1982(Trimble, , 1983Kwok, 2000Kwok, , 2013. Once in the ISM the atoms delivered from stars can undergo chemical reactions among them, promoting the formation of polyatomic molecules, either on the surfaces of minute dust grains (previously condensed in the circumstellar envelopes around aging stars) or in the gas-phase among the stars ( , as it is illustrated in Figure 1.3. ...
Context 6
... the past 80 years astronomers have detected many molecules containing biogenic elements in different astrophysical environments beyond our solar system, such as extended stellar atmospheres, circumstellar shells, diffuse nebulae and dense clouds interspersed in our Galaxy, as well as in other galaxies far away, and in the intergalactic medium (IGM) between them. For the sake of illustration, a detailed account of the ISM gas-phase molecular inventory in our Galaxy is given in Figures 1.4 and 1.5. ...
Context 7
... identified up to now (28 August, 2019), so that one may properly state that the chemistry of the universe as a whole is mainly organic chemistry (Oró, 1963). Nitrogen and oxygen-bearing compounds are also profusely found throughout the Galaxy, each one accounting for about 34% of the molecules listed in Figures 1.4 and 1.5, whereas the 21 sulfur-bearing molecules only represent a 10%. The number of molecules containing phosphorus is even smaller, since just seven representatives have been reported to date in the ISM. ...
Context 8
... contrast, phosphine only contains P -H single bonds with a bond energy of just 343 kJ mol -1 (3.5 eV). It is also interesting to note that analogs to each of the compounds listed in Table 1.2 have been discovered in the ISM with P substituted by its isovalent element N, namely, N 2 , CN, NO, HCN, CCN, and NH 3 (see Figure 1.4). In this regard, it is worthy to note that, albeit both N and P atoms belong to the same group in the periodic table, phosphorus chemistry is quite peculiar as compared to that of nitrogen (Cummins, 2014). ...
Context 9
... although the extensive search was performed, the detection of this molecule in the ISM has remained very elusive, and it was first observed in the circumstellar regions around oxygen-rich evolved stars, in agreement with previous suggestions ( Maciá et al., 1997). Similarly, while nitrogen hydrides are relatively abundant in the ISM (see Figures 1.4 and 1.5), and phosphine has been long known to be present in the atmospheres of the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn ( Sánchez-Lavega, 2011), no hydrides of phosphorus have been detected in the ISM yet, although PH 3 has been observed in both a circumstellar shell and a protoplanetary nebula to date (see Tables 1.2 and 1.3). Ziurys, 1987Turner and Bally, 1987Ziurys, 1987Turner and Bally, 1987Ziurys, 1987Turner and Bally, 1987Turner et al., 1990 Turner et al., 1990 ...
