Editing Nonmetal (section)

===Abundance===
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|+ Approximate composition <br/> {{nobold|''(top three components by weight; elements marked {{legend inline | #FFF2CC
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| '''Universe'''<ref>[[#Chandra|Chandra X-ray Center 2018]]</ref>
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  75% *hydrogen
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  23% *helium 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |   1% *oxygen
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| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  x% *other nonmetals 
| style="background-color:white" |  x% all metals
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| '''Atmosphere'''<ref>[[#Chapin|Chapin, Matson & Vitousek 2011, p. 27]]</ref>
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  78% *nitrogen 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  21% *oxygen 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  0.5% *argon
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| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  x% *other nonmetals 
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| '''Hydrosphere'''<ref name=Fortescue>[[#Fortescue|Fortescue 1980, p. 56]]</ref>
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  86% *oxygen 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  11% *hydrogen 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |   2% *chlorine
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| '''Biomass'''<ref>[[#Georgievskii|Georgievskii 1982, p. 58]]</ref>
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  63% *oxygen 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  20% *carbon 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  10% *hydrogen
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| '''Crust'''<ref name=Fortescue/> 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  46% *oxygen 
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  27% *silicon 
| style="background-color:white" |  8% aluminium
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| '''Earth'''<ref name=":2">[[#Morgan|Morgan & Anders 1980, p. 6975]]</ref>
| style="background-color:white" |  32% iron
| style="background-color:#FFF2CC" |  30% *oxygen
| style="background-color:white" |  14% magnesium 
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The [[abundance of chemical elements|abundance of elements]] in the universe results from nuclear physics processes like [[nucleosynthesis]] and [[radioactive decay]].

The volatile noble gas nonmetal elements are less abundant in the atmosphere than expected based upon their overall abundance due to cosmic [[nucleosynthesis]]. Mechanisms to explain this difference is an important aspect of [[planetary science]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pepin |first1=R. O. |last2=Porcelli |first2=D. |date=2002-01-01 |title=Origin of Noble Gases in the Terrestrial Planets |url=https://doi.org/10.2138/rmg.2002.47.7 |journal=Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=191–246 |doi=10.2138/rmg.2002.47.7 |bibcode=2002RvMG...47..191P |issn=1529-6466}}</ref> The element {{abbr|Xe|xenon}} is unexpectedly depleted, and a possible explanation comes from theoretical models of the high pressures in the Earth's core suggesting that there may be around 10<sup>13</sup> tons of xenon in the form of stable XeFe<sub>3</sub> and XeNi<sub>3</sub> [[intermetallic compound]]s.<ref>[[#Zhu2014|Zhu et al. 2014, pp. 644–648]]</ref>

Five nonmetals—hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and silicon—form the bulk of the directly observable structure of the Earth: about 73% of the [[Earth's crust|crust]], 93% of the [[biomass (ecology)|biomass]], 96% of the [[hydrosphere]], and over 99% of the [[Earth's atmosphere|atmosphere]], as shown in the accompanying table. Silicon and oxygen form stable tetrahedral structures, known as [[silicate mineral|silicates]]. Here, "the powerful bond that unites the oxygen and silicon ions is the cement that holds the Earth's crust together."<ref>[[#Klein|Klein & Dutrow 2007, p. 435]]{{Broken anchor|date=2024-07-17|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=#Klein|reason= }}</ref> However, they make up less than 50% of the total weight of the earth.<ref name=":2" />

In the biomass, the relative abundance of the first four nonmetals (and phosphorus, sulfur, and selenium marginally) is attributed to a combination of relatively small atomic size, and sufficient spare electrons. These two properties enable them to bind to one another and "some other elements, to produce a molecular soup sufficient to build a self-replicating system."<ref>[[Cockell|Cockell 2019, p. 212, 208–211]]</ref>