Why do living organisms contain more hydrogen atoms than any other atoms, yet 65% of a typical organism's mass is oxygen?

1 Answer
David Drayer
Aug 20, 2016

The reason is that Oxygen atoms contain 16 times more mass than Hydrogen atoms.

Explanation:

Hydrogen #H_1^1# Has only one proton and no neutrons and so has an atomic number of 1 and a mass of 1

Oxygen #O_8^16# Has 8 protons and also 8 neutrons and so has an atomic number of 8 and a mass of 16.

It takes 16 Hydrogen atoms to equal the mass of 1 oxygen atom.

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