Carbon

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Q: What properties do your forms exhibit?

A: All carbon allotropes are solids under normal conditions. My forms are typically chemically resistant and require high temperatures to react, even with oxygen. I have an affinity to bond with other small atoms and therefore I can form up to 10 million different compounds.

Q: Any other important contributions?

A: I am everywhere! Carbon is essential to all living systems and without it, life would not exists as we know it.

Summary

In my interview with Carbon, an element on the periodic table, I discovered that life is dependant on its existence. It is categorized as a non-metal and is placed in the 4A since it has 4 electrons in its outer shell, available for bonding.

There are a variety of useful forms of carbon and it has been known since prehistoric times. Carbon has limitless uses and forms, since it can bond with any number of other elements to create new compounds.

Introduction

Carbon is one of the most abundant elements in the universe, although it was not always recognized as an element. Carbon occurs naturally in many forms including diamond and graphite.

Q: When were you discovered?

A: I have been around since prehistoric times, but I was not recognized as an element until the 17th century when the definition of “elements” was refined by Robert Boyle. Since I take many forms, people did not recognize me as the same element in diamond and graphite for some time. It used to be believed that graphite was a form of lead, not carbon. As recently as 1985, a new form of my element was discovered. The new form is called “buckministerfullerene”.

Q: Interesting. Do you have any other uses?

A: I do! One of my isotopes (C14) plays an important part in “dating” artifacts and fossils, due to its predictable half-life. Diamond is one of the hardest substances with a high melting point and index of...