Hayden Parsley Period 1-2 Sept.

18 2013 The Element carbon People have known about carbon since ancient times. It is the sixth most abundant element in the universe. carbon comes from the Latin word Carbo, which means charcoal. It is called this because it is commonly found in charcoal and coal (Thomas). Carbon is a non-metal that is solid at room temperature. On the periodic table it has an atomic number of 6 (carbon Periodic). The atomic number is determined by how many protons and electrons an element has. For carbon that number is six.The average atomic mass is 12.01 amu. This number is an average based on the abundance of carbons three isotopes: carbon twelve, carbon thirteen, and carbon fourteen (carbon Visual). Carbon is an incredibly versatile element. The difference between hard and soft carbon is the difference between diamond and pencil lead, literally. Carbon has three main forms: Diamond, Graphite, and Amorphous.Diamond is obviously diamonds and graphite is pencil lead. Amorphous carbon is a black soot like material produced when carbon is burned. A fourth type of carbon was discovered in the sixties. Very little is known about this White carbon other than it can split a beam of light into two beams (Thomas). Carbon has many uses. Amorphous carbon is used in paint, ink, rubber, and batteries. Graphite is a key component in the production of steel and is also the lead in pencils. Graphite is in pencil lead and can also be used as a lubricant. And diamond is, of course, diamond. Carbon fourteen can be used to find how old objects are. But the most important thing carbon can give us is Life. Thats right, life. carbon is able to bond with an enormous amount of elements to form compounds. As a result carbon is the Building block of organic chemistry and there would likely be no life without it (Thomas). Works Cited carbon. Periodic Table of Elements: LANL. Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2010-2011. Web 12 Sept. 2013. <http://periodic.lanl.gov>. carbon. Visual Elements Periodic Table. Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2013. <http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/6/carbon>. Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - office of Science and Education. The Element carbon. Its Elemental - The Periodic Table of Elements. Jefferson Lab, n.d. Web 12 Sept. 2013. <http://education.jlab.org/itselemental>.