• Question: If all the substances in the periodic table disappeared except for one, which one would be the most important to stay?

    Asked by to Andrew, Elaine, Emma, Michael, Nancy on 24 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Nancy Carlisle

      Nancy Carlisle answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      If we only had one element (any one) nothing would be the way that we know it today. Most of the world around us (and our own bodies) rely on mutiple elements and the formation of molecules!

    • Photo: Andrew French

      Andrew French answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      Wow good question!

      I agree with Nancy though – it wouldn’t work I’m afraid! Imagining a world made entirely of gold is quite cool, but life relies on compounds (several elements together) and chemical reactions, and none of those would be possible. We’d be eerie, silent gold statues frozen in space. Except you wouldn’t be able to see us as there would be no light (no sun!).

    • Photo: Michael Kelly

      Michael Kelly answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      If there was only hydrogen I expect it would begin to join with other hydrogen atoms and eventually fusion would occur and given enough time we’d be back to where we are now.

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