Alternative meaning: Carbon (computing)

Carbon is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol C and atomic number 6. An abundant nonmetallic, tetravalent element, carbon has several allotropic forms: The vapor pressure is the pressure (if the vapor is mixed with other gases, the partial pressure) of a vapor. ... The pascal (symbol Pa) is the SI unit of pressure. ... The speed of sound varies depending on the medium through which the sound waves pass. ... Metre per second (U.S. spelling: meter per second) is an SI derived unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector), defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds. ... Electronegativity is a measure of the attraction that an atom has for the bonding pair of electrons in a covalent bond. ... Electronegativity is a measure of the attraction that an atom has for the bonding pair of electrons in a covalent bond. ... The specific heat capacity (symbol c or s, also called specific heat) of a substance is defined as heat capacity per unit mass. ... The specific heat capacity (symbol c or s, also called specific heat) of a substance is defined as heat capacity per unit mass. ... Electrical conductivity is a measure of how well a material accommodates the transport of electric charge. ... The ohm is the SI derived unit of electrical resistance (derived from the ampere and the watt). ... In physics, thermal conductivity, λ, is the quantity of heat transmitted, due to unit temperature gradient, in unit time under steady conditions in a direction normal to a surface of unit area, when the heat transfer is dependent only on the temperature gradient thermal conductivity = heat flow rate / (distance × temperature... In physics, thermal conductivity, λ, is the quantity of heat transmitted, due to unit temperature gradient, in unit time under steady conditions in a direction normal to a surface of unit area, when the heat transfer is dependent only on the temperature gradient thermal conductivity = heat flow rate / (distance × temperature... ion (disambiguation) An ion is an atom or group of atoms with a net electric charge. ... Isotopes are atoms of a chemical element whose nuclei have the same atomic number, Z, but different atomic weights, A. The word isotope, meaning at the same place, comes from the fact that isotopes are located at the same place on the periodic table. ... Natural abundance refers to the prevalence of different isotopes of an element as found in nature. ... Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ... In physics, the decay mode describes a particular way a particle decays. ... The decay energy is the energy released by a nuclear decay. ... Mega (symbol M) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 106, i. ... An electronvolt (symbol: eV) is the amount of energy gained by a single unbound electron when it falls through an electrostatic potential difference of one volt. ... In nuclear physics, a decay product, also known as a daughter product, is a nuclide resulting from the radioactive decay of a parent or precursor nuclide. ... Carbon 12 is a stable isotope of the element carbon. ... Different isotopes of one chemical element may have different radioactive properties. ... Properties In physics, the neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass of 939. ... Carbon-13 is a stable isotope of carbon. ... Carbon-14 is the radioactive isotope of carbon discovered February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben. ... A radionuclide is an atom with an unstable nucleus. ... A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... In nuclear physics, beta decay (sometimes called neutron decay) is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle (an electron or a positron) is emitted. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15 (VA), 2 , p Density 1. ... SI (disambiguation). ... Temperature and air pressure can vary from one place to another on the Earth, and can also vary in the same place with time. ... Carbon is the codename of Apple Computers APIs for the Macintosh operating system, which permits a good degree of backward compatibility between source code written to run on the classic Mac OS, and the newer Mac OS X. The APIs are published and accessed in the form of C... A chemical element, often called simply element, is a substance that cannot be divided or changed into different substances by ordinary chemical methods. ... The periodic table of the chemical elements, also called the Mendeleev periodic table, is a tabular display of the known chemical elements. ... The atomic number (Z) is a term used in chemistry and physics to represent the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom. ... Together with the metals and metalloids, a nonmetal is one of three categories of chemical elements as distinguished by ionization and bonding properties. ... The allotropes of carbon are the different molecular configurations (allotropes) that pure carbon can take. ...

• diamond (hardest known mineral). Structure: each atom is bonded tetrahedrally to four others, making a 3-dimensional network of puckered six-membered rings of atoms.
• graphite (one of the softest substances). Structure: each atom is bonded trigonally to three other atoms, making a 2-dimensional network of flat six-membered rings; the flat sheets are loosely bonded.

Fullerenes are nanometre-scale molecules. In the simple form 60 carbon atoms form a graphitic layer which is closed into to a sphere, similar to a soccer ball. A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ... Graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... Buckminsterfullerene (C60) Fullerenes are molecules composed entirely of carbon, taking the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. ... A nanometre (American spelling: nanometer) is 1. ...

Lamp black consists of small graphitic areas. These areas are randomly distributed, so the whole structure is isotropic.

'Glassy carbon' is isotropic and as strong as glass. Unlike normal graphite, the graphitic layers are not arranged like pages in a book, but are crumpled like crumpled paper.

Carbon fibers are similar to glassy carbon. Under special treatment (stretching of organic fibers and carbonization) it is possible to arrange the carbon planes in direction of the fiber. Perpendicular to the fiber axis there is no orientation of the carbon planes. The result are fibers with a higher specific strength than steel.

Carbon occurs in all organic life and is the basis of organic chemistry. This nonmetal also has the interesting chemical property of being able to bond with itself and a wide variety of other elements, forming nearly 10 million known compounds. When united with oxygen it forms carbon dioxide which is absolutely vital to plant growth. When united with hydrogen, it forms various compounds called hydrocarbons which are essential to industry in the form of fossil fuels. When combined with both oxygen and hydrogen it can form many groups of compounds including fatty acids, which are essential to life, and esters, which give flavor to many fruits. The isotope carbon-14 is commonly used in radioactive dating. For other uses, see Life (disambiguation) and Living (disambiguation). ... Organic chemistry is the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and synthesis of organic compounds. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16 (VIA), 2, p Density, Hardness 1. ... Carbon dioxide is an atmospheric gas composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ... Divisions Green algae land plants (embryophytes) non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses vascular plants (tracheophytes) seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongue ferns seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering... General Name, Symbol, Number Hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1 (IA), 1 , s Density, Hardness 0. ... In chemistry, a hydrocarbon is a group of chemical compounds consisting only of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). ... Fossil fuels are hydrocarbon-containing natural resources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. ... In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid (or organic acid), often with a long aliphatic tail (long chains), either saturated or unsaturated. ... Isotopes are atoms of a chemical element whose nuclei have the same atomic number, Z, but different atomic weights, A. The word isotope, meaning at the same place, comes from the fact that isotopes are located at the same place on the periodic table. ... Carbon-14 is the radioactive isotope of carbon discovered February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben. ... Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials based on a knowledge of the decay rates of naturally occurring isotopes, and the current abundances. ...

Notable characteristics

Carbon is a remarkable element for many reasons. Its different forms include one of the softest (graphite) and one of the hardest (diamond) substances known to man. Moreover, it has a great affinity for bonding with other small atoms, including other carbon atoms, and its small size makes it capable of forming multiple bonds. Because of these properties, carbon is known to form nearly ten million different compounds, the large majority of all chemical compounds. Carbon compounds form the basis of all life on Earth and the carbon-nitrogen cycle provides some of the energy produced by the sun and other stars. In chemistry, a chemical bond is the force which holds together atoms in molecules or crystals. ... Properties For alternative meanings see atom (disambiguation). ... Earth, also known as the Earth or Terra, is the third planet outward from the Sun. ... The CNO (carbon-nitrogen_oxygen) cycle is one of two fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium, the other being the proton-proton chain. ... A Sun is the star at the centre of a solar system. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is any massive gaseous body in outer space just like the Sun. ...

Carbon was not created in the Big Bang due to the fact that it needs a triple collision of alpha particles (helium nuclei) to be produced. The universe initially expanded and cooled too fast for that to be possible. It is produced, however, in the interior of stars in the horizontal branch, where stars transform a helium core into carbon by means of the triple-alpha process. It was also created in a multi atomic state. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe originated in an infinitely dense and physically paradoxical singularity. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Helium, He, 2 Atomic weight 4. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is any massive gaseous body in outer space just like the Sun. ... Hertzsprung-Russell diagram In stellar astronomy, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (usually referred to by the abbreviation H-R diagram) shows the mathematical relationship between absolute magnitude, luminosity, stellar classification, and surface temperature. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Helium, He, 2 Atomic weight 4. ... The triple alpha process is the process by which three helium nuclei (alpha particles) are transformed into carbon. ...

Applications

Carbon is a vital component of all known living systems, and without it life as we know it could not exist (see carbon chauvinism). The major economic use of carbon is in the form of hydrocarbons, most notably the fossil fuels methane gas and crude oil(petroleum). Crude oil is used by the petrochemical industry to produce, amongst others, gasoline and kerosene, through a distillation process, in refineries. Crude oil forms the raw material for many synthetic substances, many of which are collectively called plastics. Carbon chauvinism is the viewpoint in xenobiology that carbon is necessarily the basis of all life on other planets, as carbons chemical and thermodynamic properties render it far superior to all other elements. ... Fossil fuels are hydrocarbon-containing natural resources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. ... The simplest hydrocarbon, methane, is a gas with a chemical formula of CH4. ... Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 Petroleum (from Latin petrus – rock and oleum – oil), mineral oil, or crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish flammable liquid, which exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earths... Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and oleum – oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish flammable liquid, which exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earths crust. ... Petrol (gasoline in the United States and Canada) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... Kerosene or paraffin is a colorless flammable hydrocarbon liquid. ... Distillation is a means of separating liquids through differences in their boiling points. ... A refinery is a building and/or the equipment used for refining or processing specific products. ... The term plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic polymerization products. ...

Other uses

• The isotope Carbon-14 was discovered in February 27, 1940 and is used in radiocarbon dating.
• Some smoke detectors use tiny amounts of a radioactive isotope of carbon as source of ionizing radiation (Most smoke detectors of this type use an isotope of Americium)
• Graphite is combined with clays to form the 'lead' used in pencils.
• Diamond is used for decorative purposes, and also as drill bits and other applications making use of its hardness.
• Carbon is added to iron to make steel.
• Carbon is used as a moderator in nuclear reactors.
• Graphite carbon in a powdered, caked form is used as charcoal for cooking, artwork and other uses.
• Charcoal pills are used in medicine in pill or powder form to adsorb toxins or poisons from the digestive system.

The chemical and structural properties of fullerenes, in the form of carbon nanotubes, has promising potential uses in the nascent field of nanotechnology. Carbon-14 is the radioactive isotope of carbon discovered February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben. ... February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Radiocarbon dating is the use of the naturally occurring isotope of carbon-14 in radiometric dating to determine the age of organic materials, up to ca. ... Ionizing radiation is radiation in which an individual particle (for example, a photon, electron, or helium nucleus) carries enough energy to ionize an atom or molecule (that is, to completely remove an electron from its orbit). ... General Name, Symbol, Number americium, Am, 95 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block 7, f Appearance silvery white Atomic properties Atomic weight [243] amu Atomic radius (calc. ... For the town in the United States, see Clay, New York. ... A couple of very simple pencils A pencil is a handheld instrument used to write and draw, usually on paper. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metal Group, Period, Block 8 (VIIIB), 4 , d Density, Hardness 7874 kg/m3, 4. ... Steel framework Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium which reduces the velocity of fast neutrons, thereby turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a chain reaction. ... Nuclear power station at Leibstadt, Switzerland. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ... Cooking is the act of preparing food for consumption. ... Although today the word art usually refers to the visual arts, the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. ... In chemistry, adsorption of a substance is its concentration on a particular surface. ... An electronic device known as a diode can be formed by joining two nanoscale carbon tubes with different electronic properties. ...

History

Carbon (Latin carbo meaning "charcoal") was discovered in prehistory and was known to the ancients, who manufactured it by burning organic material in insufficient oxygen (making charcoal). Diamonds have long been considered rare and beautiful. The last-known allotrope of carbon, fullerenes, were discovered as byproducts of molecular beam experiments in the 1980s. Latin - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ... A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... Fullerene C540 Fullerenes are one of only 3 types of naturally occurring forms of carbon (the other two being diamond and graphite). ...

Allotropes

Main article: allotropes of carbon

The three relatively well-known allotropes of carbon are amorphous, graphite, and diamond. Several exotic allotropes have also been synthesized or discovered, including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and lonsdaleite. The allotropes of carbon are the different molecular configurations (allotropes) that pure carbon can take. ... Allotropy (Gr. ... Amorphous carbon is the name used for carbon that does not have any clear shape, form or crystalline structure. ... Graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... Fullerene C540 Fullerenes are one of only 3 types of naturally occurring forms of carbon (the other two being diamond and graphite). ... An electronic device known as a diode can be formed by joining two nanoscale carbon tubes with different electronic properties. ... Lonsdaleite is a hexagonal polymorph of the carbon allotrope diamond, believed to form when meteoric graphite falls to Earth. ...

In its amorphous form, carbon is essentially graphite but not held in a crystalline macrostructure. It is, rather, present as a powder which is the main constituent of substances such as charcoal, lamp black (soot) and activated carbon. Graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ... Soot, also called lampblack or carbon black, is a dark powdery deposit of unburned fuel residues, usually composed mainly of amorphous carbon, that accumulates in chimneys, automobile mufflers and other surfaces exposed to smoke—especially from the combustion of carbon-rich organic fuels in the lack of sufficient oxygen. ... Soot, also called lampblack or carbon black, is a dark powdery deposit of unburned fuel residues, usually composed mainly of amorphous carbon, that accumulates in chimneys, automobile mufflers and other surfaces exposed to smoke—especially from the combustion of carbon-rich organic fuels in the lack of sufficient oxygen. ... Activated carbon (also called activated charcoal) is the more general term which includes material mostly derived from charcoal. ...

Basic phase diagram of carbon, which shows the state of matter for varying temperatures and pressures. The hatched regions indicate conditions under which one phase is metastable, so that two phases can coexist.

At normal pressures carbon takes the form of graphite, in which each atom is bonded to three others in a plane composed of fused hexagonal rings, just like those in aromatic hydrocarbons. The two known forms of graphite, alpha (hexagonal) and beta (rhombohedral), both have identical physical properties, except for their crystal structure. Graphites that naturally occur have been found to contain up to 30% of the beta form, when synthetically-produced graphite only contains the alpha form. The alpha form can be converted to the beta form through mechanical treatment and the beta form reverts back to the alpha form when it is heated above 1000 °C. Basic phase diagram of carbon, which shows the state of matter for varying temperatures and pressures. ... Basic phase diagram of carbon, which shows the state of matter for varying temperatures and pressures. ... A phase diagram or phase space is a useful construct used in mathematics and physics to demonstrate and visualise the changes in a given system. ... Metastability is the ability of a non-equilibrium state to persist for a long period of time. ... Graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... A regular hexagon A hexagon (also known as sexagon) is a polygon with six edges and six vertices. ... An aromatic hydrocarbon (abbreviated as AH), or arene is a hydrocarbon, the molecular structure of which incorporates one or more planar sets of six carbon atoms that are connected by delocalised electrons numbering the same as if they consisted of alternating single and double covalent bonds. ... link title Headline text Bold textItalic textItalic textInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text here--220. ...

Because of the delocalization of the pi-cloud, graphite conducts electricity. The material is soft and the sheets, frequently separated by other atoms, are held together only by van der Waals forces, so easily slip past one another. The article on electrical energy is located elsewhere. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

At very high pressures carbon forms an allotrope called diamond, in which each atom is bonded to four others. Diamond has the same cubic structure as silicon and germanium and, thanks to the strength of the carbon-carbon bonds, is together with the isoelectronic boron nitride (BN) the hardest substance in terms of resistance to scratching. The transition to graphite at room temperature is so slow as to be unnoticeable. Under some conditions, carbon crystallizes as Lonsdaleite, a form similar to diamond but hexagonal. A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Series metalloid Group, Period, Block 14 (IVA), 3, p Density, Hardness 2330 kg/m3, 6. ... General Name, Symbol, Number germanium, Ge, 32 Series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14 (IVA), 4 , p Density, Hardness 5323 kg/m3, 6 Appearance greyish white Atomic properties Atomic weight 72. ... In chemistry, a chemical bond is the force which holds together atoms in molecules or crystals. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Boron nitride is a binary chemical compound, consisting of equal proportions of boron and nitrogen, with composition BN. Structurally, it is isoelectronic to carbon and takes on similar physical forms: a graphite-like one, and a diamond_like one. ... Graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... Lonsdaleite is a hexagonal polymorph of the carbon allotrope diamond, believed to form when meteoric graphite falls to Earth. ...

Fullerenes have a graphite-like structure, but instead of purely hexagonal packing, also contain pentagons (or possibly heptagons) of carbon atoms, which bend the sheet into spheres, ellipses or cylinders. The properties of fullerenes (also called "buckyballs" and "buckytubes") have not yet been fully analyzed. All the names of fullerenes are after Buckminster Fuller, developer of the geodesic dome, which mimics the structure of "buckyballs". Buckminsterfullerene (C60) Fullerenes are molecules composed entirely of carbon, taking the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. ... An electronic device known as a diode can be formed by joining two nanoscale carbon tubes with different electronic properties. ... In the US postage stamp commemerating Buckminster Fuller and his contributions to architecture and science, some of his inventions are visible. ... In mathematics, a geodesic is a generalization of the notion of a straight line to curved spaces. ... St Peters Basilica, Rome A dome is a common structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. ... Buckminsterfullerene (C60) Fullerenes are molecules composed entirely of carbon, taking the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. ...

A nanofoam allotrope has been discovered which is ferromagnetic. Ferromagnetism is a phenomenon by which a material can exhibit a spontaneous magnetization, and is one of the strongest forms of magnetism. ...

Occurrence

There are nearly ten million carbon compounds that are known to science and many thousands of these are vital to life processes and very economically important organic-based reactions. This element is abundant in the sun, stars, comets, and in the atmospheres of most planets. Some meteorites contain microscopic diamonds that were formed when the solar system was still a protoplanetary disk. In combination with other elements, carbon is found the earth's atmosphere and dissolved in all bodies of water. With smaller amounts of calcium, magnesium, and iron, it is a major component of very large masses carbonate rock (limestone, dolomite, marble etc.). When combined with hydrogen, carbon forms coal, petroleum, and natural gas which are called hydrocarbons. For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ... A Sun is the star at the centre of a solar system. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is any massive gaseous body in outer space just like the Sun. ... Comet Hale-Bopp, showing a white dust tail and blue gas tail (February 1997) Comet (disambiguation). ... Atmosphere is the general name for a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass. ... A planet (from the Greek πλανήτης, planētēs or wanderers) is a body of considerable mass that orbits a star and that produces no energy through nuclear fusion. ... Worlds second largest Meteorite in Culiacan, Mexico A meteorite is a relatively small extra-terrestrial body that reaches the Earths surface. ... Mosaic of the planets of the solar system, excluding Pluto, and including Earths Moon. ... A protoplanetary disc (also protoplanetary disk, proplyd) is an accretion disc surrounding a T Tauri star. ... General Name, Symbol, Number calcium, Ca, 20 Series alkaline earth metal Group, Period, Block 2 (IIA), 4, s Density, Hardness 1550 kg/m3, 1. ... General Name, Symbol, Number magnesium, Mg, 12 Series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2 (IIA), 3, s Density, Hardness 1738 kg/m³, 2. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metal Group, Period, Block 8 (VIIIB), 4 , d Density, Hardness 7874 kg/m3, 4. ... Carbonate is an anion with a charge of -2 and an empirical formula of CO32-. An aqueous solution of carbon dioxide contains a minute amount of H2CO3, called carbonic acid, which dissociates to form hydrogen ions and carbonate ions. ... Sedimentary, volcanic, plutonic, metamorphic rock types of North America. ... Media:Example. ... For the European mountain range, see Dolomites Dolomite from Touissite, Morocco Dolomite is a mineral (formula CaMg(CO3)2) consisting of a calcium magnesium carbonate found in crystals and in beds as dolostone. ... Marble This page is about the metamorphic rock. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1 (IA), 1 , s Density, Hardness 0. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground either by underground mining, open-pit mining or strip mining. ... Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and oleum – oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish flammable liquid, which exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earths crust. ... Natural gas - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... In chemistry, a hydrocarbon is a group of chemical compounds consisting only of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). ...

Graphite is found in large quantities in New York and Texas, the United States; Russia; Mexico; Greenland and India. State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... State nickname: Lone Star State Other U.S. States Capital Austin Largest city Houston Governor Rick Perry Official languages None Area 696,241 km² (2nd)  - Land 678,907 km²  - Water 17,333 km² (2. ...

Natural diamonds occur in the mineral kimberlite found in ancient volcanic "necks," or "pipes". Most diamond deposits are in Africa, notably in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, the Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone. There are also deposits in Canada, the Russian Arctic, Brazil and in Northern and Western Australia. Hewn kimberlite core sample from the James Bay Lowlands region of Northern Ontario, Canada. ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border The Arctic is the area around the Earths North Pole. ...

Organic compounds

The most prominent oxide of carbon is carbon dioxide, CO₂. This is a minor component of the Earth's atmosphere, produced and used by living things, and a common volatile elsewhere. In water it forms trace amounts of carbonic acid, H₂CO₃, but as most compounds with multiple single-bonded oxygens on a single carbon it is unstable. Through this intermediate, though, resonance-stabilized carbonate ions are produced. Some important minerals are carbonates, notably calcite. Carbon disulfide, CS₂, is similar. Carbon dioxide is an atmospheric gas composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ... Earths atmosphere is the layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earths gravity. ... This article describes water from a scientific and technical perspective. ... Carbonic acid is a weak acid with the chemical formula of H2 C O3. ... Carbonate is an anion with a charge of -2 and an empirical formula of CO32-. An aqueous solution of carbon dioxide contains a minute amount of H2CO3, called carbonic acid, which dissociates to form hydrogen ions and carbonate ions. ... ion (disambiguation) An ion is an atom or group of atoms with a net electric charge. ... Calcite from Brushy Creek Mine, Missouri, USA. The mineral calcite is a carbonate of calcium corresponding to the formula CaCO3 and is one of the most widely distributed minerals on the Earths surface. ... Carbon disulfide (CS2) is a colorless liquid with a pleasant odor that is like the smell of chloroform. ...

The other oxides are carbon monoxide, CO, and the uncommon carbon suboxide, C₃O₂. Carbon monoxide is formed by incomplete combustion, and is a colorless, odorless gas. The molecules each contain a triple bond and are fairly polar, resulting in a tendency to bind permanently to hemoglobin molecules, so that the gas is highly poisonous. Cyanide, CN-, has a similar structure and behaves a lot like a halide ion; the nitride cyanogen, (CN)₂, is related. Carbon monoxide, chemical formula CO, is a colourless, odourless, flammable and highly toxic gas. ... A commonly-used example of a polar compound is water (H2O). ... 3-dimensional structure of hemoglobin Hemoglobin or haemoglobin is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in the red cells of the blood in mammals and other animals. ... A cyanide is any chemical compound that contains the group C≡N, with the carbon atom triple bonded to the nitrogen atom. ... A halide is a binary compound, of which one part is a halogen atom and the other part is an element or radical that is less electronegative than the halogen. ... Cyanogen is a chemical compound C2N2. ...

With strong metals carbon forms either carbides, C^-, or acetylides, C₂^2-; these are associated with methane and acetylene, both very weak acids. All in all, with an electronegativity of 2.5, carbon prefers to form covalent bonds. A few carbides are covalent lattices, like carborundum, SiC, which resembles diamond. In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds, and it is sometimes said that it is similar to a cation in a cloud of electrons. ... The simplest hydrocarbon, methane, is a gas with a chemical formula of CH4. ... The chemical compound acetylene, also called ethyne, was discovered in 1836 by Edmund Davy, in England; its chemical formula is C2 H2 and its structure is: Acetylene is a colorless and extremely flammable gas at standard temperature and pressure, with a melting point of -80. ... An acid (often represented by the generic formula AH) is typically a water-soluble, sour-tasting chemical compound. ... Covalent bonding is a form of chemical bonding characterized by the sharing of one or more pairs of electrons between atoms, in order to produce a mutual attraction, which holds the resultant molecule together. ... Silicon carbide (SiC) or moissanite is a ceramic compound of silicon and carbon. ... A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ...

Carbon chains

Hydrocarbons are composed of a chain of carbon atoms, saturated by hydrogen atoms. Volatile oils have shorter chains. Fats have longer chain lengths, and waxes have extremely long chains. Oil is a generic term for organic liquids that are not miscible with water. ... In biochemistry, fat is a generic term for a class of lipids. ... Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees (beeswax) and used by them in constructing their honeycombs. ...

Carbon cycle

Under terrestrial conditions, conversion of one isotope to another is very rare. Therefore, for practical purposes, the amount of carbon on Earth is constant. Thus processes that use carbon must obtain it from somewhere, and dispose of it somewhere. The paths that carbon follows in the environment are called the carbon cycle. For example, plants draw carbon dioxide out of the environments and use it to build biomass. Some of this biomass is eaten by animals, where some of it is exhaled as carbon dioxide. The carbon cycle is considerably more complicated than this short loop; for example, some carbon dioxide is dissolved in the oceans; dead plant or animal matter may become sedimentary rock, and so forth.

Isotopes

Carbon has two stable, naturally-occurring isotopes: carbon-12, or ¹²C, (98.89%) and carbon-13, or ¹³C, (1.11%), and one unstable, naturally-occurring, radioisotope; carbon-14 or ¹⁴C. There are 15 known isotopes of carbon and the shortest-lived of these is ⁸C which decays through proton emission and alpha decay. It has a half-life of 1.98739x10^-21 s. Isotopes are atoms of a chemical element whose nuclei have the same atomic number, Z, but different atomic weights, A. The word isotope, meaning at the same place, comes from the fact that isotopes are located at the same place on the periodic table. ... Carbon 12 is a stable isotope of the element carbon. ... Carbon-13 is a stable isotope of carbon. ... A radionuclide is an atom with an unstable nucleus. ... Carbon-14 is the radioactive isotope of carbon discovered February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben. ... Proton emission (also known as proton radioactivity) is a type of radioactive decay in which a proton is ejected from the nucleus. ... Alpha decay is a form of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus ejects an alpha particle and transforms into a nucleus with mass number 4 less and atomic number 2 less. ... This article is about the unit of time. ...

In 1961 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry adopted the isotope carbon-12 as the basis for atomic weights. 1961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first upside-down year - i. ... The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to the advancement of chemistry. ... Carbon 12 is a stable isotope of the element carbon. ... ...

Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5700 y and has been used extensively for radiocarbon dating wood, archaeological sites and specimens. Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ... A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... Radiocarbon dating is the use of the naturally occurring isotope of carbon-14 in radiometric dating to determine the age of organic materials, up to ca. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...

Precautions

Carbon is relatively safe. Inhalation of fine soot in large quantities can be dangerous. Carbon may catch fire at very high temperatures and burn vigorously (as in the Windscale fire). Soot, also called lampblack or carbon black, is a dark powdery deposit of unburned fuel residues, usually composed mainly of amorphous carbon, that accumulates in chimneys, automobile mufflers and other surfaces exposed to smoke—especially from the combustion of carbon-rich organic fuels in the lack of sufficient oxygen. ... On October 10, 1957, the graphite core of a British nuclear reactor at the Windscale site, near Sellafield, caught fire, releasing substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area. ...

There are a tremendous number of carbon compounds; some are lethally poisonous (cyanide, CN^-), some are essential to life (dextrose), and some are both (carbon dioxide, CO₂). A cyanide is any chemical compound that contains the group C≡N, with the carbon atom triple bonded to the nitrogen atom. ... A space-filling model of glucose Glucose, a simple monosaccharide sugar, is one of the most important carbohydrates and is used as a source of energy in animals and plants. ... Carbon dioxide is an atmospheric gas composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ...

References

• On Graphite Transformations at High Temperature and Pressure Induced by Absorption of the LHC Beam (http://lbruno.home.cern.ch/lbruno/documents/Bibliography/LHC_Note_78.pdf), J.M. Zazula, 1997
• WebElements.com and EnvironmentalChemistry.com per the guidelines at Wikipedia's WikiProject Elements (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Elements)

See also

• organic chemistry
• inorganic chemistry of carbon
• allotropes of carbon
• diamond
  • material properties of diamond

Organic chemistry is the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and synthesis of organic compounds. ... There is a rich variety of carbon chemistry that does not fall within the realm of organic chemistry and is thus called inorganic carbon chemistry. ... The allotropes of carbon are the different molecular configurations (allotropes) that pure carbon can take. ... A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... This article addresses the material properties of diamond. ...

External links

• Los Alamos National Laboratory – Carbon (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/6.html)
• Nature article (http://www.nature.com/NSU/040322/040322-5.html)Nature article (http://www.nature.com/nsu/040322/040322-5.html)
• WebElements.com – Carbon (http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/C/index.html)
• EnvironmentalChemistry.com – Carbon (http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/C.html)
• It's Elemental – Carbon (http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele006.html)
• – Carbon Fullerene and other Allotropes (http://www.vincentherr.com/cf/) models by Vincent Herr
• Extensive Carbon page at asu.edu (http://invsee.asu.edu/nmodules/Carbonmod/everywhere.html)