Chemical Formula for Human Skin?

justacityboy

Just curious here but does anyone have the chemical formula to human skin? :woo:

Reply 1

Darrell90

each cell is a mixture of thousands of different chemicals.

Reply 2

ms607

Many different parts constitute skin, it isn't just one substance on its own.

justacityboy

Just curious here but does anyone have the chemical formula to human skin? :woo:

If you are interested, you can look up the formula to tobacco mosaic virus. Something which is infinitely more simple than human skin.

Reply 5

justacityboy

Alright just wondering thanks :smile:

Reply 6

innerhollow

justacityboy

Just curious here but does anyone have the chemical formula to human skin? :woo:

Someone calculated a chemical formula for the entire human body.

H_{375,000,000} O_{132,000,000} C_{85,700,000} N_{6,430,000} Ca_{1,500,000} P_{1,020,000} S_{206,000} Na_{183,000} K_{177,000}

Cl_{127,000} Mg_{40,000} Si_{38,600} Fe_{2,680} Zn_{2,110} Cu_{76} I_{14} Mn_{13} F_{13} Cr_7 Se_4 Mo_3 Co_1

Given that's an empirical formula, that's probably not too different from the chemical formula for skin (differentiated cells don't vary hugely by chemical composition AFAIK).

Still, these kinds of things are just a bit of fun. They lack any real meaning.

Reply 7

-Kav-

innerhollow

Someone calculated a chemical formula for the entire human body.

H_{375,000,000} O_{132,000,000} C_{85,700,000} N_{6,430,000} Ca_{1,500,000} P_{1,020,000} S_{206,000} Na_{183,000} K_{177,000}

Cl_{127,000} Mg_{40,000} Si_{38,600} Fe_{2,680} Zn_{2,110} Cu_{76} I_{14} Mn_{13} F_{13} Cr_7 Se_4 Mo_3 Co_1

Hah, that's fantastic. :biggrin:

For the OP, these numbers should be reasonably accurate for human skin with the exception of calcium and phosphorus, which would be significantly lower due to their concentration in bone.

Reply 8

Scientist_00

innerhollow

Someone calculated a chemical formula for the entire human body.

H_{375,000,000} O_{132,000,000} C_{85,700,000} N_{6,430,000} Ca_{1,500,000} P_{1,020,000} S_{206,000} Na_{183,000} K_{177,000}

Cl_{127,000} Mg_{40,000} Si_{38,600} Fe_{2,680} Zn_{2,110} Cu_{76} I_{14} Mn_{13} F_{13} Cr_7 Se_4 Mo_3 Co_1

Pretty amazing...Millions of atoms

Reply 9

shengoc

Well nature is itself a mystery filled with amazement.

Reply 10

justacityboy

Thanks everyone this is great

Reply 11

Plato's Trousers

shengoc

Well nature is itself a mystery filled with amazement.

Is that the opening line of your personal statement? :wink:

Reply 12

shengoc

Plato's Trousers

Is that the opening line of your personal statement? :wink:

nope

Reply 13

matias.v

I was seeing these questions and answers and I have a similar question:

1) Does anybody know the chemical formula for 1 mol or how to estimate it?

2) Does anybody know the molar mass of the skin or how to estimate it?

Thank you in advance,

Reply 14

anosmianAcrimony

Original post by matias.v

The skin is not a substance that can be defined well enough to have a chemical formula. It's a complex, structured mixture of millions of different chemicals, and even if you could put a formula to the ratios of the different elements it contained, it would never actually represent what the skin is - it wouldn't have any real meaning.

The way I see it, you're looking at a structure that's about six organisational levels higher than where a chemical formula would apply or be useful. The skin is an organ. You can look more closely at it and see tissues, which are groups of similar cells that work together to perform a certain function. You can look more closely still and see individual cells. You can look even more closely, and see the organelles within those cells - very tiny structures that perform certain tasks within cells. You can look at what makes up those organelles, some of which is protein, and you can just about give a protein a chemical formula - it's quantifiable, and it gives a bit of meaning in that you can use it to determine the protein's weight, but it still can't possibly tell you the shape of the protein or what that protein does. Go one level deeper (simplifying somewhat), and look at the individual amino acids that make up the protein, and a chemical formula becomes the best way of looking at things. The chemical formula of an amino acid is easily definable, experimentally quantifiable, and tells you with exactitude what that amino acid is and does.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

matias.v

Thank you very much for the prompt answer.

Your answer is very clear and I totally agree with it.

The thing is that I am trying to calculate an estimate of a nuclear cross section, that would require this kind of information. I have information based on an elemental composition of skin, provided by an International Organism, that I could get. But the data they provide is for example, is amount of each elemental substance per mass in percentage:

For example they provide: H(10%), C(20.4%), N(4.2%), etc. and they also provide the mean density for skin. I could calculate molar fractions of each component with this and and mean molar mass of the mixture with these values. For my calculation I need to calculate, total number of atoms/molecules of this mixture having the mentioned information. Do you know how could I do that with the provided information, if possible?

Thank you in advance,

Reply 16

BOBZINGGG

if someone found the chemical formula of the skin why we didn't make one on our own just take a little from every element and make one or just a little particle of it so when someone have a burned skin we can put it on the burned parts but not take anther animal skin or our own just a new fresh skin.