Carbon

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Categories: Periodic Element

CarbonType: Major Element
Periodic Element: (C)
RDA: Not listed, adequate nutritional intact provides sufficient amounts.
Importance- To Body:
A primary component of all organic molecules, which include carbohydrates, lipids (fats), proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbon is known to form almost ten million different compounds, a large majority of all chemical compounds.
Distribution- In Body:
18.5 Approx % Body Mass
Second most abundant element in the human body by mass (about 18.5%) after oxygen. It is resistant to dissolution or chemical attack, even in the acidic contents of the digestive tract. Consequently, once it enters into the body’s tissues it is likely to remain there indefinitely.
Excess Effects:
Pure carbon has extremely low toxicity to humans and can be handled and even ingested safely in the form of graphite or charcoal. Suspected harm may result from contaminants (e.g., organic chemicals, heavy metals) rather than from the carbon itself.
Deficiency Effects:
Same as starvation as it is in virtually all edible.
Sources Food:
Virtually all food sources contain carbon.
Sources Environmental/Geographic:
Carbon is the fourth most abundant chemical element in the observable universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen.
Supplemental information:
Carbon forms a vast number of compounds, more than any other element, with almost ten million compounds described to date, and yet that number is but a fraction of the number of theoretically possible compounds under standard conditions. For this reason, carbon has often been referred to as the “king of the elements”

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Carbon (Wikipedia)
This article is about the chemical element. For other uses, see Carbon (disambiguation).
"Element 6" redirects here. For the company, see Element Six.
Carbon,  6C
Graphite-and-diamond-with-scale.jpg
Graphite (left) and diamond (right), two allotropes of carbon
General properties
Allotropes graphite, diamond
Appearance graphite: black
diamond: clear
Standard atomic weight (Ar, standard) [12.0096, 12.0116] conventional: 12.011
Carbon in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium
Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon
Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson
–
↑
C
↓
Si
boron ← carbon → nitrogen
Atomic number (Z) 6
Group group 14 (carbon group)
Period period 2
Element category   polyatomic nonmetal, sometimes considered a metalloid
Block p-block
Electron configuration [He] 2s2 2p2
Electrons per shell
 2, 4
Physical properties
Phase at STP solid
Sublimation point 3915 K ​(3642 °C, ​6588 °F)
Density (near r.t.) amorphous: 1.8–2.1 g/cm3
graphite: 2.267 g/cm3
diamond: 3.515 g/cm3
Triple point 4600 K, ​10,800 kPa
Heat of fusion graphite: 117 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity graphite: 8.517 J/(mol·K)
diamond: 6.155 J/(mol·K)
Atomic properties
Oxidation states +4, +3, +2, +1,0, −1, −2, −3, −4​(a mildly acidic oxide)
Electronegativity Pauling scale: 2.55
Ionization energies
  • 1st: 1086.5 kJ/mol
  • 2nd: 2352.6 kJ/mol
  • 3rd: 4620.5 kJ/mol
  • (more)
Covalent radius sp3: 77 pm
sp2: 73 pm
sp: 69 pm
Van der Waals radius 170 pm
Color lines in a spectral range
Miscellanea
Crystal structure graphite: ​simple hexagonal
Simple hexagonal crystal structure for graphite: carbon

(black)
Crystal structure diamond: ​face-centered diamond-cubic
Diamond cubic crystal structure for diamond: carbon

(clear)
Speed of sound thin rod diamond: 18,350 m/s (at 20 °C)
Thermal expansion diamond: 0.8 µm/(m·K) (at 25 °C)
Thermal conductivity graphite: 119–165 W/(m·K)
diamond: 900–2300 W/(m·K)
Electrical resistivity graphite: 7.837 µΩ·m
Magnetic ordering diamagnetic
Magnetic susceptibility −5.9·10−6 (graph.) cm3/mol
Young's modulus diamond: 1050 GPa
Shear modulus diamond: 478 GPa
Bulk modulus diamond: 442 GPa
Poisson ratio diamond: 0.1
Mohs hardness graphite: 1–2
diamond: 10
CAS Number 7440-44-0
History
Discovery Egyptians and Sumerians(3750 BCE)
Recognized as an element by Antoine Lavoisier (1789)
Main isotopes of carbon
Iso­tope Abun­dance Half-life (t1/2) Decay mode Pro­duct
11C syn 20 min β+ 11B
12C 98.9% stable
13C 1.1% stable
14C trace 5730 y β− 14N
| references | in Wikidata

Carbon (from Latin: carbo "coal") is a chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Three isotopes occur naturally, 12C and 13C being stable, while 14C is a radionuclide, decaying with a half-life of about 5,730 years. Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity.

Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Carbon's abundance, its unique diversity of organic compounds, and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth enables this element to serve as a common element of all known life. It is the second most abundant element in the human body by mass (about 18.5%) after oxygen.

The atoms of carbon can bond together in different ways, termed allotropes of carbon. The best known are graphite, diamond, and amorphous carbon. The physical properties of carbon vary widely with the allotropic form. For example, graphite is opaque and black while diamond is highly transparent. Graphite is soft enough to form a streak on paper (hence its name, from the Greek verb "γράφειν" which means "to write"), while diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material known. Graphite is a good electrical conductor while diamond has a low electrical conductivity. Under normal conditions, diamond, carbon nanotubes, and graphene have the highest thermal conductivities of all known materials. All carbon allotropes are solids under normal conditions, with graphite being the most thermodynamically stable form at standard temperature and pressure. They are chemically resistant and require high temperature to react even with oxygen.

The most common oxidation state of carbon in inorganic compounds is +4, while +2 is found in carbon monoxide and transition metal carbonyl complexes. The largest sources of inorganic carbon are limestones, dolomites and carbon dioxide, but significant quantities occur in organic deposits of coal, peat, oil, and methane clathrates. Carbon forms a vast number of compounds, more than any other element, with almost ten million compounds described to date, and yet that number is but a fraction of the number of theoretically possible compounds under standard conditions. For this reason, carbon has often been referred to as the "king of the elements".

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