Surprise with the most abundant element in the Earth's crust

For centuries, humans have not only exploited the Earth's surface, but also dug "seemingly deep" to build underground systems. However, the reality is that we are only touching a very small part of the planet.

According to Elements, Earth's innermost layer - or "core", makes up 15% of the planet's volume. While the coating accounted for 84%. Thus, the crust is the rest, accounting for less than 1%, with a depth of 5 - 70km.

Surprisingly, in this shell, Oxygen is the element with the highest percentage, reaching 46.1%. This percentage is much larger than the mass of oxygen in the air (about 20%). Second place is Silicon (Si) with 28.2%, then aluminum with 8.2%. Thus, these three elements alone account for 88.1% of the mass of the Earth's crust. While there are about 90 other elements accounting for the remaining 11.9%.

1. Oxygen

By far, oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth's crust, accounting for more than 46% of the mass. The reason is because oxygen is a highly reactive element, so it often combines with other elements to form oxides. Some examples of common oxides are minerals such as granite and quartz (oxides of silicon), rust (oxides of iron) and limestone (oxides of calcium and carbon).

2. Silicon

Silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Silicon bonds with oxygen to form the most common minerals. For example, sand is a crystalline form of Silicon (SiO2) found in most places. Silicon is also an essential semiconductor, used in the manufacture of electronic devices and computer chips.

3. Aluminum

Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Due to its strong affinity for oxygen, aluminum is rarely found in the elemental state. Aluminum oxide Al2O3, aluminum hydroxide Al(OH)3 and potassium aluminum sulfate KAl(SO4)2 are common aluminum compounds. Aluminum and aluminum alloys have a wide variety of uses, from cooking utensils to making rockets.

4. Iron

The fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust is iron, which makes up more than 5% of the mass of the Earth's crust. Iron is obtained mainly from the minerals hematite and magnetite. Of all the metals mined, more than 90% is iron, mainly to make steel, an alloy of carbon and iron. Iron is also an essential nutrient in the human body.

5. Calcium

Calcium makes up about 4.2% of the planet's crust by weight. In its pure elemental state, calcium is a soft, silvery-white alkaline earth metal. It is never found in isolation in nature but instead exists in compounds. Calcium compounds can be found in a variety of minerals, including limestone (calcium carbonate), gypsum (calcium sulphate) and fluorite (calcium fluoride).

Humans have not been able to reach the center of the Earth

It has been mentioned in many theories, as well as in the work of Jules Verne, but the world inside the Earth is still a mystery, and no one has ever traveled to the core.

In fact, the deepest hole that man has ever dug is only approximately 12 km deep below the Earth's surface, which is only about a third of the distance to the Earth's crust. It took humans about 20 years to reach this incredible depth.

Although humanity is constantly making new discoveries and reaching for the stars, it is clear that there is still a lot to discover about the very planet on which we live.