This article is sponsored by : www.amazon.com

Before the internet and mobile phones took our lives, only food, shelter and clothes used to be the basic necessities of our lives. You would be surprised to find out that it is mainly carbon which composes these amenities.

Carbon-satiating our hunger from time unknown

Major component of our daily food have carbohydrates, fats, proteins etc., which are all made up of carbon compounds.

Carbon-the cover on our body

The fibre of clothes are made up of cellulose and other types of material, which are all carbon compounds.

Carbon- making up the place we call home

Cement and steel froms the core of any of the modern building. Carbon bestows steel with hardness while limestone (CaCO3), a major component of cement also contains carbon.

Then we have doors, windows and furniture made of wood. Wood is cellulose, which is once again a carbon compound. The paint used in your home is also a carbon compound.

So if you underestimated Carbon till now, that was your dose of enlightenment.

The carbon on our earth occur in elemental state as well as in combined state with other elements:

Elemental forms: Diamond Graphite Coal

Compounds : 1) Gaseous State 2) Liquid State 3) Solid State · In the atmosphere as CO 2 , CO · As natural gas and petroleum gas · Natural waters- soluble carbonates and bi-carbonates · Crude oil · In wood (cellulose) · Metallic carbonate minerals · Plants and animals

Allotropy

A fool once burned the diamond and found out that the resulting gas formed was CO2. Thanks to that fool, we now know that diamond is made up of Carbon only. Graphite too on burning gives CO2 i.e. it is made up of Carbon too.

If both are made up of Carbon only, then why is it that one shines & is brilliant while the other is grey & unattractive?

The difference lies in the arrangement of Carbon atoms. Let us have a look at the structures of Diamond and Graphite :

In a diamond each ‘C’ is surrounded by four other ‘C’ atoms. These are placed at the four corners of a regular tetrahedron. This results in a 3-D network of carbon atoms. In graphite each ‘C’ is surrounded by three other ‘C’ atoms. The ‘C’ atoms are arranged in layers. Each layer consists of a 2-D hexagonal network.

Such a phenomenon where an element exists in two or more different forms due to difference in their atomic arrangement is called Allotropy and the different forms are called Allotropes.

You can imagine Allotropy in this way : Buildings that we see are of different shapes but ultimately they are all made up of bricks and cement. The difference in these buildings is of arrangement of bricks and cement.

As the Allotropes have same chemical composition, they have similar chemical properties.

But they have different structures, thus different physical properties.

The other elements which exhibit Allotropy are Sulphur, Phosphorous, Arsenic and Antimony (SPAA). The following table gives the different allotropic forms of these elements :

Elements Allotropic forms Sulphur Rhombic Monoclinic Plastic Phosphorous Red Yellow – Arsenic Grey Yellow Black Antimony Metallic Yellow Explosive

This article is sponsored by : www.amazon.com