Abundant element
Contents
Carbon & Biosphere (soil)
On earth carbon is widely distributed through its layers
- in the atmosphere as CO2
- in the biosphere as humic substances
- in the lithosphere as fossil oil and as carbonates (e.g. calcite)
- maybe there are some abiotic carbon remnants from before the time there was life an earth that never cycled through the biosphere
Albeit carbon is rather rare relative to silicon (silicon is the second most abundant element in earth's crust right after oxygen) it has been highly concentrated in the topsoil by biological activity on earth. Albeit easily reachable at many places this carbon should probably not be extensively used as a resource for permanent conversion to the mechanosphere since this carbon forms a very core part for all life on earth.
If not blown into the atmosphere as CO2 fossil oil (from the berried ancient biosphere) is fine to use as building material. Especially with vastly improved more environmentally friendly mining techniques. As long as there's enough CO2 in the atmosphere this would be the ideal source though.
Atmosphere (air)
- N2 O2 H2O Ar CO2
The elements easiest to attain are not equal to the most abundant ones. E.g. Nitrogen is easier to get than Silicon or Titan since it can be drawn from the atmosphere. Given a bit of patience carbon can be drawn directly from the atmosphere too. Carbon already has an infrastructure for delivery too: gas pipes. Read the "air as a resource" page for further information.
(TODO: calculate the mass of human made CO2 in the atmosphere and compare it to the mass of concrete in all the cities worldwide)
Litosphere (crust)
The most common elements on the earths surface are the ones found in rock forming minerals: Most contain silicon as the main ingredient.
Wikipedia: the abundance of elements in earths crust
(TODO: add graphic showing relative abundances of elements in colored boxes)
Hydrosphere (ocean)
Salts in the sea (alkali metals and halogenides) are a huge reservoir of potential building material but unfortunately with view exceptions like
- Periclase MgO
- Fluorite CaF2,
- Sellait MgF2)
- Magnesium Diboride MgB2 (superconductor, health hazard)
- Calcium Hexaboride CaB6 (barely dissolvable but irritating)
Simple compounds of those elements make no good building materials. They tend to strongly dissolve in water (that was the reason why they where in there to begin with) and are brittle. More complex compounds are often more water stable but also rather weak.
Scarce elements
With AP Technology many if not all scarce elements can be replaced by a few abundant ones
- (augmented) carbon nanotubes can replace copper cables and soldering tin
- artificial motor-muscles can replace electrical motors that use rare earth elements
- interferometric displays or AP quantum dots can replace indium in screens
- chemomechanical converters can replace metal using rechargable batteries
- production of microchips - metal and poison free
- no scarce alloy metals (e.g. Mo,Cr) for steel in cars are needed
A huge part of the current (2014) focus of material science is on metals (maybe because of their relatively high count in the periodic table and their interesting properties). Will this knowledge find only limited applicatbility in advanced systems of AP technology? In any case having knowledge is always a good thing.
Related
- Recycling
- Periodic table of elements
- Chemical element
- Local resources vastly vary with the location in the solar system. See: Colonization of the solar system
- Also classified by the "...spheres": Geoengineering
External links
- Wikipedia: Topsoil (carbon rich!)
