Question

Does anyone know how much Carbon atoms, Nitrogen, Hydrogen atoms,... can be found in a single cell??

Answer 1

hydrogen 62.2%
oxygen 24.1%
carbon 12%
nitrogen 1.2%
phosphorus 0.2%
calcium 0.2%

Answer 2

Thanks but i was interested in an exact amount (like 10.000 Carbon atoms are found in a e.coli cell, whatever). Although i could try to figure out the amount by comparing to the weight of a cell and the weight of these atoms....

Answer 3

Lots.

Answer 4

:D

Answer 5

You're not going to get an exact number. In fact, I doubt you'd even get a useful RANGE of numbers. Even if you narrowed it down to one type of cell (e.g. a Paramecium), the molecules inside would depend on the size of the cell, what it had been eating, what sort of solution it was living in, what stage of the life cycle it was in, and any number of other factors.

Answer 6

Probably, you are right. But i am gonna do it later today and psot my calculations here. Actually it's just for fun...

Answer 7

Percentage Total mass Amount Averaged atom weight
in dry mass of all atoms of the element

in % in *10^15*10^-27 kg in *10^14 in 10^-27 kg
C 50 150 74,675 20,0868
O 20 60 22,402 26,7824
N 14 42 17,921 23,4364
H 8 24 143,45 1,673
P 3 9 1,7344 51,8909
Others 6

for E.coli using dry mass composition by Stanier et al
Dry mass of E.coli 3*10^17*10^-27 kg (wikipedia)

Atom weight was averaged by using ~1.673 *10^-27 kg for both Protons and Neutrons plus adding the (unimportant) weight of the electrons

Answer 8

Impressing and awesome numbers...

Answer 9

As I said, LOTS! :)

Answer 10

Of course, you were right. Still an interesting topic because it shows the hugeness of a single cell in terms of atoms.