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Organic carbon compounds are far more numerous than inorganic carbon compounds. In general bonds of carbon with other elements are covalent bonds. Carbon is tetravalent but carbon free radicals and carbenes occur as short-lived intermediates. Ions of carbon are carbocations and carbanions are also short-lived. An important carbon property is ...
Carbon-based compounds form the basis of all known life on Earth, and the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle provides a small portion of the energy produced by the Sun, and most of the energy in larger stars (e.g. Sirius). Although it forms an extraordinary variety of compounds, most forms of carbon are comparatively unreactive under normal conditions.
Carbon (6 C) has 14 known isotopes, from 8 C to 20 C as well as 22 C, of which 12 C and 13 C are stable.The longest-lived radioisotope is 14 C, with a half-life of 5.70(3) × 10 3 years. . This is also the only carbon radioisotope found in nature, as trace quantities are formed cosmogenically by the reactio
Carbon is one of the few elements that can form long chains of its own atoms, a property called catenation.This coupled with the strength of the carbon–carbon bond gives rise to an enormous number of molecular forms, many of which are important structural elements of life, so carbon compounds have their own field of study: organic chemistry.
Unlike diamond, graphite is an electrical conductor. Thus, it can be used in, for instance, electrical arc lamp electrodes. Likewise, under standard conditions, graphite is the most stable form of carbon. Therefore, it is used in thermochemistry as the standard state for defining the heat of formation of carbon compounds.
For example, carbon-containing compounds such as alkanes (e.g. methane CH 4) and its derivatives are universally considered organic, but many others are sometimes considered inorganic, such as halides of carbon without carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon bonds (e.g. carbon tetrachloride CCl 4), and certain compounds of carbon with nitrogen and ...
Carbon is present in the atmosphere in the form of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane. Carbon is a key constituent of carbonate minerals, and is in hydrogen carbonate, which is common in seawater. Carbon forms 22.8% of a typical human. [18]
Carbon's widespread abundance, its ability to form stable bonds with numerous other elements, and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth enables it to serve as a common element of all known living organisms. In a 2018 study, carbon was found to compose approximately 550 billion tons of all life on ...