Elemental Composition
Elements known to be present on the lunar surface include, among others, oxygen (O), silicon (Si), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), aluminium (Al), manganese (Mn) and titanium (Ti). Among the more abundant are oxygen, iron and silicon. The oxygen content is estimated at 45%. Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) appear to be present only in trace quantities from deposition by solar wind.
Neutron spectrometry data from the Lunar Prospector indicate the presence of hydrogen (H) concentrated at the poles.
Relative Concentration (in weight %) of Various Elements on Lunar Highlands, Lunar Lowlands, and EarthRead more about this topic: Lunar Surface
Famous quotes containing the words elemental and/or composition:
“But the lightning which explodes and fashions planets, maker of planets and suns, is in him. On one side elemental order, sandstone and granite, rock-ledges, peat-bog, forest, sea and shore; and on the other part, thought, the spirit which composes and decomposes nature,here they are, side by side, god and devil, mind and matter, king and conspirator, belt and spasm, riding peacefully together in the eye and brain of every man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“When I think of God, when I think of him as existent, and when I believe him to be existent, my idea of him neither increases nor diminishes. But as it is certain there is a great difference betwixt the simple conception of the existence of an object, and the belief of it, and as this difference lies not in the parts or composition of the idea which we conceive; it follows, that it must lie in the manner in which we conceive it.”
—David Hume (17111776)