<p>Some things to consider:</p>
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_weight" rel="nofollow noreferrer">average weight of adult humans</a> is 62 kg &amp; the <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">number of people on Earth</a> is about 8,124,715,000 kg. From your graphs, 1.1% of humans is phosphorus. That's about 5,541,055,630 kg of phosphorus in humans. The actual number will be less because of children weigh less than adults (call it 5.541 × 10<sup>9</sup> kg for ease of comparison).</p>
<p>The mass of Earth is 5.972 × 10<sup>24</sup> kg &amp; 0.5% of the <a href="https://geologyscience.com/geology/structure-of-earth/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Earth's mass is the crust</a>, which means the amount of phosphorus in the Earth's crust is 2.986 × 10<sup>22</sup> kg. The amount of phosphorus in the crust is 5.389 × 10<sup>21</sup> times the amount in all living humans. That's a huge difference.</p>
<p>Something else to consider is,</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3geyvpxpeyo" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Complex life on Earth may be much older than thought</a></em>. Oxygen &amp; phosphorus are mentioned in a controversial, but interesting theory. According the the paper the article references, <em><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301926824001669" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hydrothermal seawater eutrophication triggered local macrobiological experimentation in the 2100 Ma Paleoproterozoic Francevillian sub-basin</a></em>, phosphorus is &quot;the backbone of nucleic acids, cell membrane phospholipids and cell energy trafficking by adenosine triphosphate (ATP).&quot;</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-29T05:26:27.773Z
2024-07-29T05:26:27.773Z
Fred
<p>Biological processes artificially concentrate phosphorus into living organisms. The simple explanation is that, for example, an adult human, eats approximately 2kg of food every day and excretes roughly 2kg of waste, however we excrete almost no phosphorus. Biological entities keep most of the phosphorus they take in over their lifespan, especially when they're growing, reabsorbing it during waste digestion, other elements aren't recycled as readily. This uptake and reuptake of phosphorus is due to the fact that all life biochemistry, as we know it, is backboned by phosphorus, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phospholipid" rel="nofollow noreferrer">phospholipids</a> form all known cell membranes, all DNA and RNA bases are joined by phosphorus centred active groups and regardless of where they get their energy all known organisms use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ATP</a> to store it.</p>
<p>Where do we get it from to start with? Plants take up phosphorus, usually in the form of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphate" rel="nofollow noreferrer">phosphate</a> ion, in the soil, sourced from either phosphoric minerals or organic material. The plants, like everything else, keep phosphorus preferentially because they need a lot of it, other living creatures then eat plants and also keep phosphorus preferentially because they need it too. Ultimately it comes from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_II_supernova" rel="nofollow noreferrer">type II supernovae</a> which is why it's still so rare in the universe in general, the solar system has a relatively high concentration and Earth even more so.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-29T08:27:26.987Z
2024-07-29T08:27:26.987Z
Ash
<p>Phosphorus forms phosphate esters, anhydrides, and phosphoramidic acids that can release energy when hydrolysed yet are slow to hydrolyse or decompose without catalysis. Therefore, they are very useful for biological systems. Due to this, many organisms have evolved to concentrate phosphorus from the environment.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-14T12:05:08.523Z
2024-08-14T12:05:08.523Z
Harrychink
<p>In terms of the Earth's inner layers or formation history, why is phosphorus concentrated in living organisms?</p>
<p>What processes moved it there?</p>
<p>I have no idea how much phosphorus ranks in the composition of lithosphere, mantle, or aesthenosphere but my limited research shows me that it's much more abundant in living organisms/phosphorus mines/rocks on places people can visit.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/nuXJqeYP.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/nuXJqeYP.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>This figure shows that phosphorus makes up less than .14% of the Earth's crust.</p>
<p>I wonder whether phosphorus is more abundant in other layers of the Earth or its oceans besides on the continents.
I hypothesize knowing that would tell me from a Geologists' view where the phosphorus in organisms originates.</p>
<p>I have a hard time understanding why the phosphorus is so abundant in the human organism but not in the Earth's crust or aesthenosphere, litosphere, mantle/core.</p>
<p>I am aware that when organisms die, their bodies aren't thrown into the aesthenosphere or mantle/lithosphere so there's a physical barrier that explains why phosphorus isn't abundant besides on continents/organisms, but didn't the phosphorus in living organisms come from rocks or the inner earth or was it from meteors or asteroids?</p>
<p>Was phosphorus ever more abundant within the inside of the Earth or was it always on continents more abundant?</p>
<p>I don't mean to talk about how did phosphorus come from in terms of stellar nucleosynthesis or stars, but where did phosphorus found in organisms come from?</p>
<p>Do living things rearrange protons and electrons and neutrons into phosphorus like a reverse nuclear reaction or did the phosphorus in living things come from meteors or it was upturned from the inside of the Earth?</p>
<p>If you tell me it comes from rocks or organisms urinating, then where did the rocks or organisms obtain it? Biological Synthesis?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-29T03:56:30.260Z
why do you think they would be the same?, living things ae only going to contain the elements that actually have useful chemistry, and then only the ones that will disolve in water.
John
<geochemistry><earth-history><biogeochemistry><geologic-layers>
Why is phosphorus concentrated in living organisms rather than the lithosphere, aesthenosphere, crust, mantle, core?
Coo
# Why is phosphorus concentrated in living organisms rather than the lithosphere, aesthenosphere, crust, mantle, core?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-07-29)

In terms of the Earth's inner layers or formation history, why is phosphorus concentrated in living organisms?

What processes moved it there?

I have no idea how much phosphorus ranks in the composition of lithosphere, mantle, or aesthenosphere but my limited research shows me that it's much more abundant in living organisms/phosphorus mines/rocks on places people can visit.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/nuXJqeYP.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/nuXJqeYP.png)

This figure shows that phosphorus makes up less than .14% of the Earth's crust.

I wonder whether phosphorus is more abundant in other layers of the Earth or its oceans besides on the continents.
I hypothesize knowing that would tell me from a Geologists' view where the phosphorus in organisms originates.

I have a hard time understanding why the phosphorus is so abundant in the human organism but not in the Earth's crust or aesthenosphere, litosphere, mantle/core.

I am aware that when organisms die, their bodies aren't thrown into the aesthenosphere or mantle/lithosphere so there's a physical barrier that explains why phosphorus isn't abundant besides on continents/organisms, but didn't the phosphorus in living organisms come from rocks or the inner earth or was it from meteors or asteroids?

Was phosphorus ever more abundant within the inside of the Earth or was it always on continents more abundant?

I don't mean to talk about how did phosphorus come from in terms of stellar nucleosynthesis or stars, but where did phosphorus found in organisms come from?

Do living things rearrange protons and electrons and neutrons into phosphorus like a reverse nuclear reaction or did the phosphorus in living things come from meteors or it was upturned from the inside of the Earth?

If you tell me it comes from rocks or organisms urinating, then where did the rocks or organisms obtain it? Biological Synthesis?

**Tags:** geochemistry, earth-history, biogeochemistry, geologic-layers

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: why do you think they would be the same?, living things ae only going to contain the elements that actually have useful chemistry, and then only the ones that will disolve in water.  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-07-29. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Some things to consider:

The [average weight of adult humans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_weight) is 62 kg & the [number of people on Earth](https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/) is about 8,124,715,000 kg. From your graphs, 1.1% of humans is phosphorus. That's about 5,541,055,630 kg of phosphorus in humans. The actual number will be less because of children weigh less than adults (call it 5.541 × 109 kg for ease of comparison).

The mass of Earth is 5.972 × 1024 kg & 0.5% of the [Earth's mass is the crust](https://geologyscience.com/geology/structure-of-earth/), which means the amount of phosphorus in the Earth's crust is 2.986 × 1022 kg. The amount of phosphorus in the crust is 5.389 × 1021 times the amount in all living humans. That's a huge difference.

Something else to consider is,

*[Complex life on Earth may be much older than thought](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3geyvpxpeyo)*. Oxygen & phosphorus are mentioned in a controversial, but interesting theory. According the the paper the article references, *[Hydrothermal seawater eutrophication triggered local macrobiological experimentation in the 2100 Ma Paleoproterozoic Francevillian sub-basin](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301926824001669)*, phosphorus is "the backbone of nucleic acids, cell membrane phospholipids and cell energy trafficking by adenosine triphosphate (ATP)."


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### Answer by username_3 on 2024-07-29. Score: 3

Biological processes artificially concentrate phosphorus into living organisms. The simple explanation is that, for example, an adult human, eats approximately 2kg of food every day and excretes roughly 2kg of waste, however we excrete almost no phosphorus. Biological entities keep most of the phosphorus they take in over their lifespan, especially when they're growing, reabsorbing it during waste digestion, other elements aren't recycled as readily. This uptake and reuptake of phosphorus is due to the fact that all life biochemistry, as we know it, is backboned by phosphorus, [phospholipids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phospholipid) form all known cell membranes, all DNA and RNA bases are joined by phosphorus centred active groups and regardless of where they get their energy all known organisms use [ATP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate) to store it.

Where do we get it from to start with? Plants take up phosphorus, usually in the form of the [phosphate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphate) ion, in the soil, sourced from either phosphoric minerals or organic material. The plants, like everything else, keep phosphorus preferentially because they need a lot of it, other living creatures then eat plants and also keep phosphorus preferentially because they need it too. Ultimately it comes from [type II supernovae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_II_supernova) which is why it's still so rare in the universe in general, the solar system has a relatively high concentration and Earth even more so.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2024-08-14. Score: 0

Phosphorus forms phosphate esters, anhydrides, and phosphoramidic acids that can release energy when hydrolysed yet are slow to hydrolyse or decompose without catalysis. Therefore, they are very useful for biological systems. Due to this, many organisms have evolved to concentrate phosphorus from the environment.


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