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Trace Elements Laboratory |
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A
Joint Venture of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's
Health Care London
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Carbon (C)
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This
element is not currently measured in this laboratory.
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Carbon is distributed very widely in nature. It is found in abundance in the sun, stars, comets, and atmospheres of most planets. The atmosphere of Mars contains 96 % CO2. Carbon is found free in nature in three allotropic forms: amorphous, graphite, and diamond. Graphite is one of the softest known materials while diamond is one of the hardest. Carbon, as microscopic diamonds, is found in some meteorites. Natural diamonds are found in ancient volcanic "pipes" such as found in South Africa. Diamonds are also recovered from the ocean floor off the Cape of Good Hope. More recently, another form of carbon, buckminsterfullerene, C60, has been discovered. This new form of carbon is the subject of great interest in research laboratories today. Carbon is present as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and dissolved in all natural waters. It is a component of rocks as carbonates of calcium (limestone), magnesium, and iron. Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are chiefly hydrocarbons. Carbon is unique among the elements in the vast number of variety of compounds it can form. Organic chemistry, a 1/112th subset of inorganic chemistry, is the study of carbon and its compounds. While silicon might take the place of carbon in forming a host of related compounds, it is not possible currently to form stable compounds with very long chains of silicon atoms.
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