Carbon Compounds

• 18% of your body is also made of carbon
• Carbon atoms - backbone of many important molecules in your body including proteins, DNA, RNA, sugars, and fats
• Carbon

  • the sixth most abundant element in the universe, has been known since ancient times
• Amorphous carbon - is formed when a material containing carbon is burned without enough oxygen for it to burn completely
• Graphite - one of the most softest materials known, form of carbon that is primarily used as a lubricant
• Three allotropes of carbon

  1. Amorphous
  2. graphite
  3. diamond
• Two forms of amorphous

  1. alpha
  2. beta
• Coke

  • used in large amounts in the production of steel
  • made by heating a soft coal in an oven without allowing oxygen to mix with it
• Lead - the black material used in pencils id actually graphite
• Diamond - one of the hardest substance known
• White carbon - was produced in 1969, transparent material that can split a single beam
• Buckyballs

  • large molecules consisting only of carbon
  • 60 or 70 linked together in a structure that looks like a soccer ball
• Carbon-14 : a radioactive isotope of carbon with a half life of 5,730 years, used to find the age of formerly living things through a process known as radiocarbon dating
• Black soot - also known as lampblack is used to make inks, paints and rubber products