The history of carbon influential essay

I. Introduction

A. The History of Carbon

2. Occurrences in Nature

A. Diamond

M. Graphite

C. Coal and Charcoal

M. Amorphous Carbon

III. Carbon dioxide Compounds

A. Inorganic

N. Organic

IV. The Co2 Cycle

4. Conclusion

Co2, an element found out before record itself, is one of the most

abundant elements inside the universe. It can be found in the sunlight, the stars

comets, and the atmospheres of most exoplanets. There are near ten , 000, 000

known carbon dioxide compounds, thousands of which happen to be vital towards the basis of your life

itself (WWW 1).

Carbon dioxide occurs in several forms in nature. One of its purest varieties is gemstone.

Diamond is definitely the hardest compound known on earth. Although diamonds found in

mother nature are colorless and transparent, when coupled with other elements its

color can range from pastels to black. Diamond is a poor conductor of heat and

electrical energy. Until 1955 the only causes of diamond had been found in deposits of

volcanic origin. Ever since then scientists include found strategies to make diamond from

graphite and other artificial materials. Diamond jewelry of accurate gem top quality are not

manufactured in this way (Beggott 3-4).

Graphite is another sort of carbon. It occurs as a mineral in nature, however it

can be made artificially via amorphous carbon dioxide. One of the main purposes of

graphite is good for its lubricating qualities. One more is for the lead in pencils.

Graphite is used like a heat resistant material and a great electricity conductor. It

is usually used in indivisible reactors being a lubricator (Kinoshita 119-127).

Shadowy carbon is a deep black powder that happens in characteristics as a element of

coal. It could be obtained unnaturally from almost any organic element by

heating system the material to extremely high temperatures with no air. That way

coke is definitely produced from coal, and charcoal is produced from wood. Unstable

carbon is the most reactive kind of carbon. Since amorphous carbon burns

very easily in atmosphere, it is utilized as a burning fuel. The most important uses for

amorphous carbon are as a filler for plastic and as a black pigment in color (WWW

2).

There are two kinds of co2 compounds. The foremost is inorganic. Inorganic

compounds happen to be binary substances of carbon dioxide with precious metals or metal carbides. That they

have homes ranging from reactive and saltlike, found in alloys such as

sodium, magnesium, and aluminum, for an unreactive and metallic, including titanium

and niobium (Beggott 4).

Carbon dioxide compounds made up of nonmetals usually are gases or perhaps liquids with low

boiling points. Carbon monoxide, a gas, is unsmelling, colorless, and tasteless.

That forms through the incomplete combustion of carbon (Kinoshita 215-223). It is

highly toxic to animals as it inhibits the transport of oxygen in the blood

by hemoglobin (WWW 2). Carbon is a colorless, almost odorless gas that

is formed by the combustion of carbon. It is a product which will result from

respiration in most living organisms and it is used by plant life as a way to obtain carbon.

Frozen carbon dioxide, known as dry ice, is used as being a refrigerant.

Fluorocarbons, such as Freon, are used while refrigerants (Kinoshita 225-226).

Organic and natural compounds happen to be those compounds that result from nature. The simplest

organic ingredients consist of simply carbon and hydrogen, the hydrocarbons. The

state of matter to get organic compounds depends on just how many carbons are included

in it. If a substance has about four carbons it is a gas, if it has up to twenty

carbons it is just a liquid, of course, if it has much more than 20 carbons it is a solid

(Kinoshita 230-237).

The carbon cycle is a system of natural and chemical processes that will make

carbon accessible to living things for use in tissue building and energy release

(Kinoshita 242). All living skin cells are composed of proteins including carbon

hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen in various combinations, and living organism

puts these elements together in respect to a unique genetic code. To do this the

organism must have these accessible in special ingredients built about carbon.

These special substances are created only by plants, by process of

photosynthesis. Photosynthesis can be described as process by which chlorophyll barriers and uses

energy through the sun in the form of light. Half a dozen molecules of carbon dioxide

match six substances of normal water to form one particular molecule of glucose (sugar).

The sugar molecule consists of six atoms of carbon, twelve of hydrogen, and

six of oxygen. Six oxygen elements, consisting of two oxygen atoms each, are

also created and are dismissed into the atmosphere unless the rose needs

energy to live. If so, the o2 combines together with the glucose immediately

releasing half a dozen molecules of carbon dioxide and six of water for every single molecule of

glucose (Beggott 25-32). The carbon pattern is then completed as the plant

obtains the energy that was stored by the glucose. The length of time required

to complete the cycle varies. In plants without an instant need for energy

the chemical substance processes continue in a variety of ways. By reducing the hydrogen

and oxygen content material of most of the sugar substances by 1 water molecule and

combining them to type large molecules, plants create substances just like starch

inulin, and excess fat and store them for future employ. Regardless of whether the

stored meals is used afterwards by the plant or used by a few other organism, the

molecules can ultimately always be digested and oxidized, and carbon dioxide and water

will probably be discharged. Various other molecules of sugar undergo a series of chemical

changes and they are finally put together with nitrogen chemical substances to form healthy proteins

substances, which are then accustomed to build damaged tissues (WWW 2).

Although necessary protein substances might pass from organism to organism, sooner or later

these also are oxidized and type carbon dioxide and water since cells need replacing and

will be broken down, or as the organisms expire. In either case, a brand new set of

creatures, ranging from fungus to the large scavengers, use the waste products or

tissues pertaining to food, absorbing and oxidizing the substances for strength release (WWW

1).

In various instances in the Earths history, a lot of plant and animal tissue have

been protected by simply erosion and sedimentation in the natural agents of

decomposition and converted into substances such as peat, lignite, petroleum

and coal. The carbon circuit, temporarily interrupted in this manner, is usually

completed since fuels are burned, and carbon dioxide and water will be again included in

the atmosphere for recycle by living things, and the solar power stored by simply

photosynthesis ages ago can be released (Kinoshita 273-275).

All the things around us today has its own connection with carbon or a co2

compound. Carbon is in just about every living organism. Without carbon life would not

exist as you may know it.

Performs Cited

1 . Beggott, John Great Projectiles of CarbonNew Scientist, This summer 6, 1991

2 . Kinoshita, Kim Carbon Compounds Randomly, New York 119-275

1987

three or more. WWWCarbon http://www.usc.edu/chem/carbon.html1995

4. WORLD WIDE WEB Carbon Compounds http://www.harvard.edu/depts/chem/carbon.html

95

Category: Technology

Tweet