Bonding with carbon

• Diamond

  Very hard, high melting point, doesn’t conduct electricity, Giant covalent structure, 4 covalent bonds per carbon atom, a lot of energy is needed to break all the bonds in a diamond
• Graphite

  Soft and slippery, conducts electricity between layers, 3 strong carbon covalent bonds, layers of hexagonal shapes the layers have very little forces of attraction between them so they can easily slide over each other, 1 delocalised electron per atom to carry charge
• Graphene

  A single sheet of graphite, 3 strong carbon covalent bonds per carbon atom, 1 delocalised electron per carbon atom, 1 atom thick, thermal and electrical conductor, useful for electronics
• Fullerenes

  Molecules of carbon with hollow shapes, useful for nanotechnology and electronics