• Question: What is the most important element??

    Asked by gardner to Ben, Clare, Ezzy, Mario, Sam on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Ben Smart

      Ben Smart answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      I would say Hydrogen, because you need hydrogen to make all the other elements. All the different elements are made inside stars.

    • Photo: Mario Campanelli

      Mario Campanelli answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      oxygen since we need it for breathing, but also hydrogen to make water

    • Photo: Sam Vinko

      Sam Vinko answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      I’d say Carbon.
      We are not currently aware of any other element with the versatility of carbon to form bonds and molecules. Its this versatility that gives rise to life as we know it.
      Silicon and sulphur are two other possible candidates, but we don’t whether or not a life-form based on them can actually exist.

    • Photo: Clare Burrage

      Clare Burrage answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      For us, the most important elements are probably:
      Oxygen, which we need to breath,
      Hydrogen, which along with oxygen makes the water we need to survive
      Carbon which forms the basis for all the cells in our body

    • Photo: Elizabeth Pearson

      Elizabeth Pearson answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Hydrogen. Definitly. Stars build hydrogen into all the other elements. On earth water and hydrocarbons (known as organic chemicals, really important in life processes) both contain hydrogen.

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