On Earth, ninety-four different types of atoms naturally exist, but eight of these elements make up 98.8 percent of the mass of the Earth: iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, sulfur, nickel, calcium, and aluminum. The rest are technically trace elements, including carbon. We have the technology to transform some of the common ones into the rare ones, but this requires a nuclear reactor, which costs even more money than mining and results in radioactive waste. This is essentially why gold is still valuable in the twenty-first century. If gathered together, all the gold ever mined would fit inside
...more
