Some details about carbon

Carbon

                    Carbon is one of the most important elements. It is unique in nature. All living things whether plants or animals contain carbon. Naturally occurring substances like coal petroleum, marble and lime stone contain carbon. Carbon is a non metal represented by the symbol 'c'. The name carbon is derived from the Latin word 'carbon'. It means charcoal. Atoms of carbon can join with each other to form chains and rings of different sizes. This property of carbon is called catenation. This unique ability of carbon makes it possible to have millions of compounds of carbon. In fact there is a separate branch of chemistry known as organic chemistry, to study the compounds of carbon. 

Carbon in the earth crust

             Carbon constitutes only 0.03% of the earth crust. The atmosphere contains carbon dioxide. Apart from coal, carbon occurs in nature in two forms namely graphite and diamond. Presence of one more form of carbon called fullerenes has been discovered. Carbon is present in the earth crust in a wide range of substances. Substances like cotton, paper, wood, sugar and food stuff contain carbon.