File:Graphite-and-diamond-with-scale.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ623· pop 214· linked from 4,475 articles

carbon

Also known as C, element 6, ₆C

Carbon () is a chemical element; it has symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 electrons. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes up about 0.025 percent of Earth's crust. Three isotopes occur naturally, C and C being stable, while C is a radionuclide, decaying with a half-life of 5,700 years. Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity.

OverviewAI-generated

Carbon is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It belongs to group 14 and period 2 of the periodic table. The element has an atomic mass of 12.011 and an electronegativity of 2.55. Its electron configuration is [He] 2s² 2p². Carbon exhibits oxidation states of -4, -3, -2, and -1. The substance is classified as an atmophile element.

The element was discovered by Antoine Lavoisier in 1789. Its name is derived from coal. Carbon has a density of 3.51 and an ionic radius of 0.16. It crystallizes in the hexagonal crystal system. The chemical formula for the element is C. Descriptions of carbon appear in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition.

Synthesized by Vinony from 35 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, PubChem, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Chemical data

Formula: C
Molecular weight: 12.011 g/mol
IUPAC name: methane
SMILES: [C]
InChIKey: OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N
XLogP: 0.6
Polar surface area: 0 Å²
H-bond donors: 0
H-bond acceptors: 0
Formal charge: 0

via PubChem

Research

856,272 papers

Capturing carbon dioxide from air with charged-sorbents.Nature · 2024Li H, Zick ME, Trisukhon T et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07449-2
Aqueous carbonation of peridotites for carbon utilisation: a critical review.ReviewEnvironmental science and pollution research international · 2022Rashid MI, Benhelal E, Anderberg L et al.DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-23116-3
Inorganic Carbon Pools and Their Drivers in Grassland and Desert Soils.Global change biology · 2024Dong L, Ran J, Luo J et al.DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17536
Anthropogenic Forcing of Carbonate and Organic Carbon Preservation in Marine Sediments.ReviewAnnual review of marine science · 2017Keil RDOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060724
Algal-bacterial consortium promotes carbon sink formation in saline environment.Journal of advanced research · 2024Gu W, Wu S, Liu X et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2023.08.004
Dual carbon sequestration with photosynthetic living materials.Nature communications · 2025Dranseike D, Cui Y, Ling AS et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58761-y
Isotope fractionations in the terrestrial carbon cycle: a brief overview.ReviewAdvances in space research : the official journal of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) · 1995Schidlowski MDOI: 10.1016/s0273-1177(99)80115-x
The utilization of alkaline wastes in passive carbon capture and sequestration: Promises, challenges and environmental aspects.ReviewThe Science of the total environment · 2022Khudhur FWK, MacDonald JM, Macente A et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153553

via PubMed

~47 min read

Encyclopedic overview

22 sections

Contents

Characteristics
Chemical
Allotropes
Isotopes
Occurrence
Formation in stars
Carbon cycle
Compounds
Organic compounds
Inorganic compounds
Organometallic compounds
History and etymology
Production
Graphite
Diamond
Applications
Diamonds
Precautions
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Carbon's abundance, its unique diversity of organic compounds, and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth, enables it to serve as the common element of all known life. It is the second most abundant element in the human body by mass (about 18.5%) after oxygen.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “carbon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.