6 cArBon occurring states of carbon diamond graphite and amorphous But in recent decades scientists have discovered other forms of carbon buckminsterfullerene nicknamed buckyballs nanotubes nanotubes and graphene Q-carbon discovered in 2015 glows when exposed to low levels of energy and may have a hardness to rival diamonds The diamond form of carbon is used in jewelry but also to make tools for cutting and polishing Graphite is the soft naturally occurring occurring substance we know better as pencil lead but it can also be used as a dry lubricant Unlike diamond where atoms are arranged in hard frameworks graphite atoms are arranged in thin sheets so they fall apart easily giving it a slippery feel Amorphous carbon has no crystalline structure and is useful in making inks paints and rubber rubber items Carbon compounds form the basis of all known life on Earth and carbon is even present in our own bodies Every single organic molecule of the human body contains carbon Through the food we eat and the air we breathe carbon finds its way into our bodies When we exhale carbon is expelled from our bodies in the form of carbon dioxide which plants absorb as part of their own carbon cycle Humans are carbon-based life-forms however science fiction often explores the concept of silicon-based extraterrestrial life forms given silicon’s similarities to carbon The universe may be
IntroductIon 7 stranger than we know but scientists have found carbon in the sun stars and comets along with the atmospheres of most discovered planets Carbon is everywhere Teaming up with other elements carbon forms more compounds than any other element From jewelry to fuels to plastics to pencils to tools to printer inks carbon is an essential part of our everyday lives This book tells the story of carbon what it is and how it works
1 Carbon Number 6 on the Periodic Table Mankind has known about carbon for centuries but no single person is credited with discovering this element or giving carbon its name The word carbon comes from the Latin word carbo meaning ember or charcoal Because fire was one of the first things humankind ever knew its remnants soot and charcoal charcoal were very common and thus were also named carbo When a natural item that contains carbon such as wood is burned the carbon is released as soot charcoal and ash Soot charcoal and ash are forms of carbon called amorphous carbon which you’ll learn more about in chapter three The ancient Greeks first developed the concept of an element saying that everything was made up of at least one of the four 8
cArBon numBer 6 on the PerIodIc tABle 9 elements earth air fire and water In the mid-seventeenth century century British philosopher and chemist Robert Boyle agreed with the idea that there are basic elements that make up everything but he also claimed there were many more than these four elements Boyle theorized that everything was made up of very small particles of matter Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space Boyle concluded that these particles of matter were only differentiable differentiable by their shape and motion These particles became known as elements Boyle is often associated with the identification of carbon as an element but it would take other scientists such as Englishman Sir Humphry Davy to show that coal soot charcoal and diamonds were all versions of the same element carbon After carbon was identified scientists later realized that it can be either the hardest or one of the softest substances depending on its form Close-up of an Element To understand how elements behave you have to think small really really small An element is the most fundamental form into which a substance substance may be divided by physical or chemical means For example example if you take the element iron Fe and melt it down you cannot turn it into another element If you hammered a piece of iron
