Carbon and its Compounds

Carbon and its Compounds

Introduction

Carbon is an inseparable chemical entity associated with living things of the earth. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cosmetics we use and the fuels by which we run the automobiles all contain carbon compounds. When we burn the materials like cotton, wood, paper, plastics and rubber, they burn with smoky flame and leave some amount of solid or ash at the end. This is nothing but carbon.

Carbon is one of the most important non-metallic element. Antoine Lavoisier named Carbon from the Latin word ‘Carbo’ meaning coal. This is because carbon is the main constituent of coal. Coal is a fossil fuel developed from prolonged decomposition of buried plants and animals. So it is clear that all the life forms contain carbon. The earth’s crust contains only 0.032% of carbon (i.e.320 parts per million by weight) in the form of minerals like carbonates, coal and petroleum and the atmosphere has only 0.03% of carbon dioxide (i.e.300 parts per million by weight). In spite of this availability of small amount of carbon in nature, carbon compounds have an immense importance in everyday life. For example, we ourselves are made of carbon compounds. About 18 % of the weight of human body is carbon.

·           Carbon is present in our muscles, bones, organs, blood and other components of living matter. Carbohydrates (compounds formed primarily of carbon and hydrogen) provide fuel for living organisms, underlie the structure of plants, animals and bacteria and are essential components of DNA and RNA, the molecular blueprints of life.

·           A large number of things which we use in our daily life are made up of carbon compounds.

·           The most vital photochemical reaction of plants involve carbon compounds (CO₂ and Chlorophyll)

So without carbon, there is no possibility for the existence of plants and animals including human. Thus Carbon Chemistry is also called as Living Chemistry.