How Much Are the Elements in Your Body Worth?

It's a lot less than you might think

Female scientist using calculator

Peter Muller / Getty Images

by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels.
Updated January 13, 2020

Have you ever wondered how much the elements in your body are worth? This is a breakdown of the elements from which you are made, by percent.

Your Body Is Made Of:

  • 65, oxygen
  • 18, carbon
  • 10, hydrogen
  • 3, nitrogen
  • 1.5, calcium
  • 1, phosphorous
  • 0.35, potassium
  • 0.25, sulfur
  • 0.15, sodium
  • 0.15, chlorine
  • 0.05, magnesium
  • 0.0004, iron
  • 0.00004, iodine

Your body contains trace amounts of other elements, such as silicon, manganese, fluorine, copper, zinc, arsenic, and aluminum. The going rate for a body's worth of these elements: just $1.

Selling For Parts

There are ways to bump up the price a bit. If you're looking to make a buck with your body, your best bet would be to sell individual organs, but since that's illegal, an alternative might be to tan your hide for use as leather. Your skin would be worth about $3.50 if it were sold at the price of a cowhide, which runs around $0.25 per square foot. If you take a dollar's worth of elements plus the value of your skin, you might be able to get $4.50, which you can round up to $5, so you can feel a bit better about your chemical value.