10 ms·

> Copper is not something the body can make, so we need to get it through our diet Does the body make any elements?

• cpncrunch 10y ago
  >Does the body make any elements? That wouldn't be possible unless the body somehow did nuclear fusion or fission.
  • adrianN 10y ago
    With enough volume you might be able to harness cosmic rays.
    • mikeash 10y ago
      Standing next to an unshielded nuclear reactor should get you a bit of nucleosynthesis from all the neutrons. There is the unfortunate side effect of dying painfully, but everything has tradeoffs.
      • adrianN 10y ago
        At least you lose the weight?
  • pavel_lishin 10y ago
    That reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2t%C3%A9_de_Foie_Gras_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2t%C3%A9_de_Foie_Gras_(s...
• ChuckMcM 10y ago
  No, and I chuckled at wording as well. And I also thought it funny how too much copper unbalanced your zinc levels, which as anyone knows who has made a battery out of a potato, if you don't have copper and zinc you are a pretty lousy battery :-).
• smaddox 10y ago
  Obviously the answer is no, but the average reader likely doesn't know which minerals are elements and which are molecules. The statement seems redundant to you and I, but it is a key fact and likely not obvious to anyone with minimal chemistry/physics training.
  • miles 10y ago
    "The statement seems redundant to you and I" As long as we're on the subject of pedantry, and with your kind leave, may I humbly point out that the above statement should read "The statement seems redundant to you and me"? If in doubt, drop the words "you and" then see how the sentence works: "The statement seems redundant to I" vs "The statement seems redundant to me" http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w026.html http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w026.html
    • ClassyJacket 10y ago
      There are no hard rules with grammar. Just conventions. If we understood what the person meant, then they succeeded at their goal of communicating.
      • roflc0ptic 10y ago
        That's true, but the convention for educated English speakers has it that it should be "you and me", or "us". They may have succeeded at communicating facts but they also conveyed some slight ignorance to some subset of people reading it. Definitely wouldn't have taken the time to point it out, though.
      • miles 10y ago
        By all means! At the same time, there may be something to be said for writing well. I was reminded of this thread: Rare is the leader who can actually write well https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=429298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=429298 and especially part of a comment by Alex3917[1], quoting 37signals's Getting Real[2]: "If you are trying to decide between a few people to fill a position, always hire the better writer. It doesn't matter if that person is a designer, programmer, marketer, salesperson, or whatever, the writing skills will pay off. Effective, concise writing and editing leads to effective, concise code, design, emails, instant messages, and more." [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=429352 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=429352 [2] http://gettingreal.37signals.com http://gettingreal.37signals.com
• ISL 10y ago
  In short, no. Pedantically, though, some radioactive elements decay in your body, so there are nuclei in your body right now that are different from when you ate, touched, or breathed them in. For example, the milligram or two of potassium-40 present in your body will, over a billion years or so, become calcium-40.
  • nickjarboe 10y ago
    Well, half of it will. The half life of potassium-40 is ~1.25 billion years. It decays to calcium-40 about 89% of the time and argon-40 11%. When using potassium-40 decay for dating, the usual method is determining the ratio of K-40 to radiogenic Ar-40 [1]. This is not easy and involves irradiating samples in a nuclear reactor. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argon%E2%80%93argon_dating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argon%E2%80%93argon_dating
• nine_k 10y ago
  It can synthesize many organic compounds, so you don't have to eat every compound the body needs. But yes, nuclear transmutation is nit supported.
• ddxv 10y ago
  While the body cannot make Copper or other Elements, it can build some organic chemical compounds. This process is called anabolism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolism I think where this is confusing on what are considered nutrients. Some nutrients can be built by the body, while others cannot. Essential Nutrients are those that cannot be built by human bodies. The Wikipedia page for Nutrients is pretty accessible and interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient
• eip 10y ago
  http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/cf/406bio_alchemy.pdf http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/cf/406bio_alchemy....
• bsder 10y ago
  No. But there are also some more complex molecules that the human body doesn't make either.
  • jrapdx3 10y ago
    Sure, quite a few--vitamins, essential amino acids, essential fats are well-known. The body uses these as "raw ingredients" to produce a huge range of necessary compounds.
• Pitarou 10y ago
  There was the case of the goose that somehow synthesized gold, and excreted it in its eggs.
  • kpil 10y ago
    I'd say it's more plausible that it drank a lot of ocean water, and acquired the gold that way...