What was carbon named after

Here are eight things you probably didn't know about carbon. It's in every living thing, and in quite a few dead ones. It binds atoms to one another, forming humans, animals, plants and rocks.

If we play around with it, we can coax it into plastics, paints, and all kinds of chemicals. It sits right at the top of the periodic table , wedged in between boron and nitrogen. Atomic number 6, chemical sign C. Six protons, six neutrons, six electrons.

It is the fourth most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen, and 15th in the Earth's crust. While its older cousins hydrogen and helium are believed to have been formed during the tumult of the Big Bang, carbon is thought to stem from a buildup of alpha particles in supernova explosions, a process called supernova nucleosynthesis. While humans have known carbon as coal and—after burning—soot for thousands of years, it was Antoine Lavoisier who, in , showed that it was in fact a unique chemical entity.

Lavoisier used an instrument that focused the Sun's rays using lenses which had a diameter of about four feet. He used the apparatus, called a solar furnace, to burn a diamond in a glass jar. By analyzing the residue found in the jar, he was able to show that diamond was comprised solely of carbon.

The name carbon derives from the French charbon , or coal. As the sixth-most abundant element in the universe, carbon forms in the belly of stars in a reaction called the triple-alpha process, according to the Swinburne Center for Astrophysics and Supercomputing. In older stars that have burned most of their hydrogen , leftover helium accumulates.

Each helium nucleus has two protons and two neutrons. Under very hot temperatures — greater than ,, Kelvin ,, The end result: Atoms with six protons and six neutrons — carbon. Carbon is a pattern maker. It can link to itself, forming long, resilient chains called polymers. It can also bond with up to four other atoms because of its electron arrangement. Atoms are arranged as a nucleus surrounded by an electron cloud, with electrons zinging around at different distances from the nucleus.

Chemists conceive of these distances as shells, and define the properties of atoms by what is in each shell, according to the University of California, Davis. Carbon has two electron shells, with the first holding two electrons and the second holding four out of a possible eight spaces.

When atoms bond, they share electrons in their outermost shell. Carbon has four empty spaces in its outer shell, enabling it to bond to four other atoms.

It can also bond stably to fewer atoms by forming double and triple bonds. In other words, carbon has options. And it uses them: Nearly 10 million carbon compounds have been discovered, and scientists estimate that carbon is the keystone for 95 percent of known compounds, according to the website Chemistry Explained.

Carbon's incredible ability to bond with many other elements is a major reason that it is crucial to almost all life. Carbon's discovery is lost to history. Carbon is also the second most abundant chemical in the human body. Carbon, as an element, forms more compounds than any other element in the Periodic Table of elements. Carbon is probably the most versatile chemical element of all elements. As an allotrope, carbon is stable in its various multi-atomic states although each state has a different molecular configuration such as carbon that is used to determine the age of antiquities.

Carbon is a chemical oxymoron. A diamond, one carbon configuration, is the hardest substance on earth. Graphite, another carbon configuration, is extremely soft and pliable. Almost all forms of carbon are solid under normal conditions while also being the most thermodynamically stable.

Carbon exists in both organic, meaning living, and non-organic compounds. Inorganic carbon can be found in limestone, dolomite and carbon dioxide. The higher the value, the larger risk there is to supply.

The percentage of the world reserves located in the country with the largest reserves. A percentile rank for the political stability of the top producing country, derived from World Bank governance indicators. A percentile rank for the political stability of the country with the largest reserves, derived from World Bank governance indicators.

Specific heat capacity is the amount of energy needed to change the temperature of a kilogram of a substance by 1 K. A measure of the stiffness of a substance. It provides a measure of how difficult it is to extend a material, with a value given by the ratio of tensile strength to tensile strain.

A measure of how difficult it is to deform a material. It is given by the ratio of the shear stress to the shear strain. A measure of how difficult it is to compress a substance. It is given by the ratio of the pressure on a body to the fractional decrease in volume.

A measure of the propensity of a substance to evaporate. It is defined as the equilibrium pressure exerted by the gas produced above a substance in a closed system. This Site has been carefully prepared for your visit, and we ask you to honour and agree to the following terms and conditions when using this Site.

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Glossary Allotropes Some elements exist in several different structural forms, called allotropes. Glossary Group A vertical column in the periodic table. Fact box. Glossary Image explanation Murray Robertson is the artist behind the images which make up Visual Elements. Appearance The description of the element in its natural form. Biological role The role of the element in humans, animals and plants.

Natural abundance Where the element is most commonly found in nature, and how it is sourced commercially. Uses and properties. Image explanation. There are a number of pure forms of this element including graphite, diamond, fullerenes and graphene.

Diamond is a colourless, transparent, crystalline solid and the hardest known material. Graphite is black and shiny but soft. The nano-forms, fullerenes and graphene, appear as black or dark brown, soot-like powders. Carbon is unique among the elements in its ability to form strongly bonded chains, sealed off by hydrogen atoms. These hydrocarbons, extracted naturally as fossil fuels coal, oil and natural gas , are mostly used as fuels.

A small but important fraction is used as a feedstock for the petrochemical industries producing polymers, fibres, paints, solvents and plastics etc. Impure carbon in the form of charcoal from wood and coke from coal is used in metal smelting.

It is particularly important in the iron and steel industries. Graphite is used in pencils, to make brushes in electric motors and in furnace linings. Activated charcoal is used for purification and filtration.

It is found in respirators and kitchen extractor hoods. Carbon fibre is finding many uses as a very strong, yet lightweight, material. It is currently used in tennis rackets, skis, fishing rods, rockets and aeroplanes. Industrial diamonds are used for cutting rocks and drilling. Diamond films are used to protect surfaces such as razor blades. The more recent discovery of carbon nanotubes, other fullerenes and atom-thin sheets of graphene has revolutionised hardware developments in the electronics industry and in nanotechnology generally.

In , as a result of combusting fossil fuels with oxygen, there was ppm. Atmospheric carbon dioxide allows visible light in but prevents some infrared escaping the natural greenhouse effect. This keeps the Earth warm enough to sustain life.

However, an enhanced greenhouse effect is underway, due to a human-induced rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. This is affecting living things as our climate changes. Biological role. Carbon is essential to life.

This is because it is able to form a huge variety of chains of different lengths. It was once thought that the carbon-based molecules of life could only be obtained from living things. However, in , urea was synthesised from inorganic reagents and the branches of organic and inorganic chemistry were united.

Living things get almost all their carbon from carbon dioxide, either from the atmosphere or dissolved in water. Photosynthesis by green plants and photosynthetic plankton uses energy from the sun to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen is released to the atmosphere, fresh water and seas, and the hydrogen joins with carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates. Some of the carbohydrates are used, along with nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements, to form the other monomer molecules of life.