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Introduction
What is carbon? Carbon is a chemical element that is non metallic in nature. It occupies a position in Group 14 (IV a) in the periodic table. Carbon compounds can be found in magnesium carbonates and calcium and play a significant role in the formation of some common minerals such as dolomite, limestone, etc. The purest form of carbon is graphite, and it was discovered by a primitive man while extracting charcoal from the fire. It is quite interesting that diamond and other elements such as charcoal and fullerene are also the purest forms of carbon. The atomic number of carbon is 6, and the name carbon is derived from the Latin word “carbo” which means charcoal.
Characteristics of carbon
Carbon is a unique element that has a versatile nature and characteristics. Organic compounds are formed of carbons and other elements such as oxygen and hydrogen. The atomic number of carbon is 6 and its unique symbol in the field of chemistry is C. It is important to understand why the atomic number of carbon is 6. It needs to be remembered that an atom of carbon has 6 electrons, 6 protons, and 6 neutrons. It needs to be mentioned in the context of the atomic number of carbon that carbon can be located in the second row of the periodic table, which suggests that it has 2 electron orbits.
What is carbon? Isn’t it a word that one finds in carbon dioxide? Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that causes the earth to heat up or hold up the heat. It allows the earth to retain the energy that it receives from the sun. Therefore, carbon has a role to play in nature. It is an interesting fact that all living organisms on earth contain carbon. However; it needs to be taken into consideration that carbon compounds are quite different from pure carbon.
One of the major characteristics of carbon is that it ranks 15th in respect to its abundance in the universe. There are many physical properties of carbon as allotropes that serve a wide range of purposes while being used in electrons, and batteries. The allotropes of carbon such as diamond, and graphite have different structures and arrangements of electrons. Each allotrope of carbon has different electrical conductivity.
Carbon bonds play a significant role in the field of chemistry, and the study of carbon compounds governs the arena of organic chemistry. The chemical reactions concerning carbon are interesting and the carbon bonds are very important to understanding the division and intricacy of the chemical compounds that are present on the earth. By the process of catenation, one atom of carbon easily forms covalent bonds with another atom of carbon, thereby forming a long chain of carbon compounds. Carbon has the potential to form bonds with elements such as hydrogen and oxygen, and it needs to be considered that the compounds resulting from carbon have stability due to their small size.
The atomic number of carbon is 6, and it has a role to play in the methyl group that consists of hydrogen and one carbon atom. The one carbon atom combines with its hydrogen atoms to get the –CH3 chemical name. These are basically hydrocarbon groups with a –CH3 chemical name and can appear in many organic compounds. The CH3 chemical name is always methyl containing one atom of carbon and can be considered an organic compound…
Carbon’s anomalous behavior
There are certain qualities or characteristics of carbon that make it unconventional and an exception from the standard norms. The atomic size of the atoms of carbon is very small. Furthermore, it has electro negativity that is higher when compared to other elements. An interesting fact about carbon is that it has melting and boiling points that are higher than any other elements or members present in the Group 14 of the periodic table. Another anomalistic attribute of carbon is that it has 4 valence electron orbital as a result of which it can only hold 4 pairs of electrons. The atomic number of carbon is 6, however, the covalency of carbon is 4. On the contract, the other elements in this group except carbon can extend their covalence up to 6 due to the prevalence of d-orbital.
The catenation process enables the carbon atoms to establish a link with one another with the help of covalent bonds. The impact of catenation decreases as the bonding energy gets reduced while one moves down the group. The process of catenation results in variation concerning the allotropic forms of carbon. It should be considered that carbon has the potential to form multiple bonds either with nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur as a result of its increased electronegativity and small size.
Conclusion
Carbon exists in a free state in nature as diamond and graphite. Moreover, every living and organic element or component of nature contains carbon. According to sources, there is around 0.02% carbon present in the earth’s crust in the form of coal, and hydrogen carbonates. The tetravalent trait of carbon largely contributes to its anomalistic behavior. Carbon compound chains formed through the process of catenation contain 70 to 80 carbon atoms.
