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by Im Alec has abandoned this account on March 7th, 2010
The most common element in the universe is Hydrogen, which is the simplest possible element and hence was the first to be formed in the cooling after the Big Bang. Some of the hydrogen fused into Helium as the universe cooled, and a tiny bit of Lithium. All other elements have formed inside stars since the Universe expanded. Therefore, to a first approximation, the Universe is 3/4 Hydrogen and 1/4 Helium.
The rarest element will be one of the heavy element for which there are no stable isotopes. These are formed by the radioactive decay of other heavy elements and decay themselves in a short time, often minutes. It was said for one elements (I cannot recall which) that at any time there were probably no more than a hundred atoms of that element on the Earth.
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Comments
There are several heavy elements that exist in such tiny quantities. If I remember correctly, polonium is one of the rarest elements on earth. The transuranium elements (past uranium) are manmade and have not been observed in nature. Only a few atoms of these elements have ever existed. They don't stick around long after they're created in a particle accelerator.
by osurlosers on March 27th, 2010