Eli5: What are human body cells made of?

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I were never good at Biology, but always wanted to know what a cell is actually made off. I know there are some little things in the cell, but what I meant, what chemical elements is one made off?

I suppose mostly of H2O, but maybe something else. That’s why I’m here, as I couldn’t find anything online. Maybe I’m just too stupid to find things on the web, but anyways, I would love to know it. Thank you guys!

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m surprised no one has mentioned SPONCH yet. It’s a cute little acronym for the most important elements in life.

Sulfur, Phosphorus, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen (the order is just for pronouncing, this isn’t how frequent or important they are.

Sulfur: I’m a little fuzzy on this one but i think the main use is in certain protein components. It helps form strong bonds in proteins

Phosphorus: used to make ATP, your body’s main energy molecule in cells. Also used in making bones

Oxygen: Appears in lots of places. Water, of course, but also as part of sugars, fatty acids, amino acids, and other molecules.

Nitrogen: the big uses here are in amino acids (building blocks of proteins) and in nucleotides (building blocks of DNA)

Carbon: used everywhere. Carbon is basically the default element for forming any molecule. If the backbone of the molecule isn’t using one of the other elements, then it’s carbon.

Hydrogen: similar to carbon, hydrogen appears everywhere. Instead of being the backbone of molecules though, hydrogen is what attaches *to* the backbones

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