How many atoms are there on earth?

Answer:

Answer

The chemical composition of the Earth (by mass) is:

34.6% Iron
29.5% Oxygen
15.2% Silicon
12.7% Magnesium
2.4% Nickel
1.9% Sulfur

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/earth.html

The mass of the Earth is 5.97e24 kg = 5.97e27 g

Therefore the earth contains

2.07e27g Iron
1.76e27g Oxygen
9.1e26g Silicon
7.6e26g Magnesium
1.4e26g Nickel
1.1e26g Sulfur


The molar masses of these elements are:

55.9g Iron
16.0g Oxygen
28.1g Silicon
24.3g Magnesium
58.7g Nickel
32.1g Sulfur

Therefore the number of moles of each of these elements is:

3.7e25 Iron
1.10e26 Oxygen
3.2e25 Silicon
3.1e25 Magnesium
2e24 Nickel
3e24 Sulfur

for a total of 2.15e26 moles. Multiply by Avogadro's number to get number of atoms = 1.3e50 or so.

(what about the earth's atmoshere?)

First answer by Bart burns. Last edit by Bart burns. Contributor trust: 1 [recommend contributor recommended]. Question popularity: 8 [recommend question].