9781422279441

THE CHEMISTRY OF EVERYDAY ELEMENTS

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Carbon

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Mason Crest

THE CHEMISTRY OF EVERYDAY ELEMENTS

Aluminum Carbon Gold Helium Hydrogen Oxygen Silicon Silver Understanding the Periodic Table Uranium

THE CHEMISTRY OF EVERYDAY ELEMENTS

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Carbon

By Jane P. Gardner

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com

© 2018 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3837-0 Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4222-3839-4 EBook ISBN: 978-1-4222-7944-1

First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with the Publisher.

Cover photos: Dreamstime.com: Mopic (bkgd); Jzhender1 (factory); Dustin Kostic (vest); Richard Thomas (diamond)

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Carbon

Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic moments, and much more! Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented here. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Discovery and History . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chemical Properties . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Carbon and You . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Carbon Combines . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Carbon in Our World . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Find Out More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Series Glossary of Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Index/Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

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Carbon: INTRODUCTION

A Key Element

T ake a close look around you. What do you see? A book or perhaps a half-eaten piece of toast, sits on your desk. Outside your window, you might see clouds or rain or a bird flying by. As you look, your heart pumps your blood throughout your body. All of those things that you see— including the eyes you use to see them—are the solids, liquids, and gases that are composed of elements of the periodic table. The periodic table is an arrangement of all the naturally oc- curring, and manufactured, elements known to humans at this point in time. There are 92 elements that can be found natu- rally on Earth and in space. The remaining 26 (or thereabouts) have been manufactured and analyzed in a laboratory setting. These elements, alone or in combination with others, form and shape all the matter around us. From the air we breathe, to the water we drink, to the food we eat—all these things are made of elements.

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The periodic table has un- dergone several updates and reorganizations since it was first developed in 1869, until the modern version of the table used today. The periodic table is arranged by increasing atomic

This carbon diagram shows the six protons orbiting the atom’s nucleus.

number, into rows and columns. Each element has a unique atomic number. It is the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom. For example, carbon has an atomic number of 6—there are six protons in the nucleus. All samples of an element have the same number of protons, but they may have a different number of neutrons in the nu- cleus. Atoms with the same number of protons but different number of neutrons are called isotopes. Each element on the periodic table is unique, having its own chemical and physical properties. But certain chemical properties can be interpreted based on which group or row an element resides in. The periodic table also gives information such as the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of one atom of an element, the number of electrons that surround the nucleus, the atomic mass, and the general size of the atom. It is also possible to

The Chemistry of Everyday Elements

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predict which state of matter an element is most likely to be found— solid, liquid, or gas—based on its location. The periodic table is a very useful tool as one begins to investigate chemistry and science in general. This book is about the element carbon. Carbon, a nonmetal, has six protons and six neutrons in its nucleus. A stable atom of carbon has six electrons. Carbon is a solid under standard conditions. Just how useful is this element? We are carbon-based beings. All living things on Earth, from humans to blades of grass, from giant sequoias to tiny dust mites, are all carbon-based organisms. The cells of all living things are made of carbon. And carbon plays even more roles in our lives. The temperature on Earth is at a temperature that can sustain life thanks to the carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon, in a variety of forms, fuels our automobiles and buses, and in a lot of cases, warms our homes and helps cook our food. New technologies have opened up a whole new world of medicine and space explora- tion that utilizes the unique properties of carbon. We all use and need carbon in our lives, and we need to be mindful of how we use it and the lasting impact our use will have on future generations and on the health of the planet.

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Periodic Table

The Periodic Table of the Elements is arranged in numerical order. The number of each element is determined by the number of protons in its nucleus. The horizontal rows are called periods. The number of the ele- ments increases across a period, from left to right. The vertical columns are called groups. Groups of elements share similar characteristics. The colors, which can vary depending on the way the creators design their version of the chart, also create related collections of elements, such as noble gases, metals, or nonmetals, among others.

The Chemistry of Everyday Elements

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WORDS TO UNDERSTAND bronze metal made by melting together copper and another metal (usually tin) geodesic dome a shape formed by interlocking 20-sided shapes that form a half-sphere opaque so dark that light usually can’t pass through; opposite of transparent

Carbon: CHAPTER 1

Discovery and History

C arbon is the sixth most abundant element in the entire universe. All the carbon that makes life on Earth pos- sible formed in stars long ago. Chemical reactions in very young stars formed carbon and other elements. As stars age, they use up the main ingredient of their cores (hydrogen), and collapse in on themselves. The stars eventu- ally explodes in a supernova and the remaining carbon that is distributed through the universe. Here on Earth, it is virtually impossible to name any one person who discovered carbon. Carbon, in its many various forms, has been used by humans for millennia. According to the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Re- search, the first known use of carbon was approximately

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3750 bce when ancient Egyptians and Sumerians used charcoal, a form of pure carbon, to make bronze . Charcoal is formed when wood is burned and deprived of oxygen. What is left after this process is an impure form of carbon. Charcoal, especially in ancient times, was primarily used as a fuel, although today it has many alternative uses, including as a filtering device. The word carbon is thought to come from the Latin word for char- coal or coal: carbo. In French, the word is charbon , while in German it is kohle .

A Sumerian dagger made of bronze, which was created with the help of the carbon form called charcoal.

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Historical records and archeological finds indicate that carbon and carbon products were used for a variety of uses. Charcoal was used for medicinal purposes in 15,000 bce Egypt. Writings on ancient papy- rus suggest that charcoal was used to treat wounds and prevent them from becoming infected. It was also used to support the health of the intestinal tract. Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician, used char- coal to treat conditions such as epilepsy and anthrax. The Phoenicians used wooden barrels that had been charred on the inside to store their drinking water on the long trading voyag- es. This charring, which created a layer of carbon by burning the wood, kept the water from becoming contaminated and kept it tasting fresher. Other cultures, including Hindu in what is now India, were using charcoal along with sand to filter and purify their drinking water as far back as roughly 450 bce . Here Comes Oil For centuries, scientific knowledge continued to grow and develop. Much work was done to explore the different forms that carbon can take. In the 1770s, Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist

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The Chemistry of Everyday Elements

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Carbon

Diamonds vs. Graphite

While both diamonds and graphite are made of carbon (and only carbon, with some minor impurities at times), they have very different properties. Graphite (below) has a hardness of about 2 on Mohs’ Hardness Scale, while diamond has a hardness of 10. Diamonds are insulators, while graphite can conduct electric- ity. Graphite is opaque , while diamonds, for the most part, are transparent. The reason behind these differences? It has to do with the arrangement and bonding of the carbon atoms on a very, very small scale—the nanoscale.

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