#ASYMMETRIC CARBON ATOM FREE#

Of smaller, faster, cheaper, and more durable computer chips.Ĭarbon is the basis of all life on Earth since it forms the backbone of DNA and proteins. Among other uses, graphene may form the basis of a new generation Like photons (particles of light) throughĪ vacuum. Graphene has an extremely high electrical conductivity,Īllowing electrons to fly though it almost The molecular structure is like that of graphite without the three-dimensional stacking of layers – hence the similarity

Graphene is a form of carbon, first isolated in 2004,Ĭonsisting of one-atom-thick sheets of carbon atoms in a hexagonal, 'chicken-wire'Īrrangement (see Fig 3). Porous form, activated charcoal, is made by heating charcoal Insulator, by artists for drawing, in the manufacture of gunpowder,Īs a decolorizing agent, and in sugar refining and solvent recovery. The manufacture of steel until the advent Residue of microcrystalline graphite remains.Ĭharcoal has a high energy density and is used as a fuel and was used in blast furnaces in Rubber (for vehicle tires) and other materials, and in various dark pigmentsĬharcoal is an amorphous form of carbon produced whenĬarboniferous substances are heated with little or no air present, or areĭestructively distilled, for example in a kiln or retort. Made by heating or burning hydrocarbon gases in a restricted air supply. Molecules called carbon nanotubes, or graphene.Ĭarbon-12 and carbon-13. Which consist of large polyhedral molecules containing scores of carbon Another recently-discovered form of carbon are fullerenes, Graphite is one of the softest known materials while diamond is one of the

#ASYMMETRIC CARBON ATOM FREE#

Not impossible) to imagine life with a different chemical basis such as silicon.Ĭarbon is found free in nature in three main allotropic forms: amorphous (as in charcoal), graphite, and diamond. Which carbon forms long, complex chains and rings, it is difficult (though Astrobiologists suspect that carbon-based Carbon shows a covalency ofįour, the bonds pointing toward the vertices of a tetrahedron, unless multipleĬarbon is the fourth most common element in the universe (see elements, cosmic abundance)Īnd the basis of all terrestrial life (see elements,īiological abundance).

Metals at high temperatures to form carbides (see 'Inorganic compounds of carbon' below). Strong oxidizing agents will attack graphite. Fluorine will attack carbon at room temperature to give carbon tetrafluoride, and In a poor supply of oxygen, and carbon dioxide in excess oxygen.

Ray bombardment it is used in radiocarbon dating.Ĭarbon as an element, and especially as diamond, is rather inert, but allįorms of it will burn in air at a high temperature to give carbon monoxide Carbon-14 has the relatively long half-life of 5,730 years, and is continuously formed in the atmosphere by cosmic C 10, C 11, C 14, C 15,Īnd C 16 are all radioactive (see radioactivity). Mass unit) is much the most common, but C 13 makes up 1.11% Carbon has several isotopes: C 12 (used as a standard for the atomic It exhibits allotropy (see 'Forms of carbon'īelow). Of carbon compounds, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and those describedĬarbon occurs in nature both uncombined (e.g., coal, diamond) and as carbonates,Ĭarbon dioxide in the air, and petroleum. To it, because of the vast number of compounds it forms. Carbon (C) is a nonmetal element in group IVA of the periodic table.Ĭarbon is unique among elements in that a whole branch of chemistry – organic chemistry – is devoted

Asymmetric carbon atom