List of Naturally Occurring Elements

List of Naturally Occurring Elements Some elements have been made by man, but do not exist naturally. Have you ever wondered how many elements are found in nature? Of the 118 elements that have been discovered, there are 90 elements that occur in nature in appreciable amounts. Depending who you ask, there are another 4 or 8 elements that occur in nature as a result of radioactive decay of heavier elements. So, the grand total of natural elements is 94 or 98. As new decay schemes are discovered, its likely the number of natural elements will grow. However, these elements will likely be present in trace amounts. There are 80 elements that have at least one stable isotope. The other 38 elements exist only as radioactive isotopes. Several of the radioisotopes instantly decay into a different element. It used to be believed that of the first 92 elements on the periodic table  (1 is hydrogen and 92 is uranium) that 90 elements occur naturally. Technetium (atomic number 43) and promethium (atomic number 61) were synthesized by man before they were identified in nature. List of the Natural Elements Assuming 98 elements can be found, however briefly, in nature, there are 10 found in extremely minute amounts:  technetium, atomic number 43; promethium, number 61; astatine, number 85; francium, number 87; neptunium, number 93; plutonium, number 94; americium, number 95; curium, number 96; berkelium, number 97; and californium, number 98. Here is an alphabetical list of the natural elements: Element Name Symbol Actinium Ac Aluminum Al Antimony Sb Argon Ar Arsenic As Astatine At Barium Ba Beryllium Be Bismuth Bi Boron B Bromine Br Cadmium Cd Calcium Ca Carbon C Cerium Ce Cesium Cs Chlorine Cl Chromium Cr Cobalt Co Copper Cu Dysprosium Dy Erbium Er Europium Eu Fluorine F Francium Fr Gadolinium Gd Gallium Ga Germanium Ge Gold Au Hafnium Hf Helium He Hydrogen H Indium In Iodine I Iridium Ir Iron Fe Krypton Kr Lanthanum La Lead Pb Lithium Li Lutetium Lu Magnesium Mg Manganese Mn Mercury Hg Molybdenum Mo Neodymium Nd Neon Ne Nickel Ni Niobium Nb Nitrogen N Osmium Os Oxygen O Palladium Pd Phosphorus P Platinum Pt Polonium Po Potassium K Promethium Pm Protactinium Pa Radium Ra Radon Rn Rhenium Re Rhodium Rh Rubidium Rb Ruthenium Ru Samarium Sm Scandium Sc Selenium Se Silicon Si Silver Ag Sodium Na Strontium Sr Sulfur S Tantalum Ta Tellurium Te Terbium Tb Thorium Th Thallium Tl Tin Sn Titanium Ti Tungsten W Uranium U Vanadium V Xenon Xe Ytterbium Yb Yttrium Y Zinc Zn Zirconium Zr The elements are detected in stars, nebulas, and supernovae from their spectra. While pretty much the same elements are found on Earth compared to the rest of the universe, the ratios of the elements and their isotopes are different.