ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCES IN NATURE - FORTUITY OR CONFORMITY TO NATURAL LAWS

Nuclear analytical methods during the last decades have given a lot of new data on elemental composition of various natural materials. These data allow a return to the question of the regularities of elements a bundance. This question seems to be important from the point of view o f basic science as well as analytical chemistry (analytical procedure planning, expected element concentrations, choice of sufficient sensit ivity and reproducibility, etc.). The most fruitful approach in this c onnection is the comparison of the elemental composition of some gener alized systems with an element's fundamental characteristics and/or it s position in the Periodical System. Stronger correlations can be foun d when the elemental characteristic (its position in the Periodic Tabl e) versus abundance is considered within separate groups of elements. This idea is illustrated by considering elements' abundance in the Uni verse, Solar System, Earth crust, sea water, soils, plants, etc. Simpl e equations describe these functions with acceptable agreement of tabu lar and calculated data. The coefficients of these equations in many c ases were also connected with some fundamental characteristics such as ionization potential, ion potential, melting and boiling point, etc.