CARBON
Without the element of carbon, life as we know it would not exist.
Carbon provides the framework for all tissues of plants and animals. They
are built of elements grouped around chains or rings made of carbon atoms.
Carbon also provides common fuels--coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas.
Sugar, starch, and paper are compounds of carbon with hydrogen and
oxygen. Proteins such as hair, meat, and silk contain these and other
elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
More than six and a half million compounds of the element carbon,
many times more then those of any other element, are known, and more are
discovered and synthesized each week. Hundreds of carbon compounds are
commercially important but the element itself in the forms of diamond,
graphite, charcoal, and carbon black is also used in a variety of manufactured
products.
Besides the wide occurrence of carbon in compounds, two forms of
the element--diamond and graphite, are deposited in widely scattered
locations around the Earth.
PROPERTIES OF CARBON
Symbol = C
Atomic Number = 6
Atomic Weight = 12.011
Density at 68 Degrees F = 1.88-3.53
Boiling Point = 8,721 degrees F
Melting Point = 6,420 degrees F
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