In which part of the periodic table (like top, middle, bottom, left or right…) do we find most of the atoms that make up life?

across the top of the Periodic Table.

Explanation:

Oxygen – 52kg  This element makes up more than half the mass of your body but only a quarter of its atoms.

Carbon – 14.4kg  The most important structural element, and the reason we are known as carbon-based life forms. About 12 per cent of your body’s atoms are carbon.

Hydrogen – 8kg  The hydrogen atoms in your body were formed in the Big Bang. All the others were made inside a star long ago and were flung into space by a supernova explosion. So though you may have heard that we are all stardust, that isn’t strictly true.

Nitrogen – 2.4kg  The four most abundant elements in the human body – hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen – account for more than 99 per cent of the atoms inside you. They are found throughout your body, mostly as water but also as components of biomolecules such as proteins, fats, DNA and carbohydrates.

Calcium – 1.12kg  Phosphorus – 880g  Sulphur – 200g Potassium – 200g

Sodium – 120g  Chlorine – 120g  

Magnesium – 40g  Magnesium is a key component of superoxide dismutase, one of the most important detoxification enzymes.

Iron – 4.8g  Found in haem, the oxygen-carrying part of the haemoglobin molecule inside red blood cells

Fluorine – 3.0g  Hardens the teeth, though fluorine is not considered essential to life.

Zinc – 2.6 g  Strontium – 0.37g  Strontium is found almost exclusively in bones, where it may have a benefcial effect on growth and density.

Iodine 0.0128 g   Iodine is an essential component of the thyroid hormone thyroxine. Iodine is the heaviest element required by the human body.

Copper – 0.08g  Copper is a component of many enzymes. Copper deficiency causes neurological and blood disorders.

Manganese – 0.0136 g  Molybdenum – 0.0104 g