Hi, dear friend!

My name is Dmitri Mendeleev and now I'm going to tell you a very interesting story..

Do you know, what unites all these things?

Carbon

Yes, they all consist from carbon!

Carbon as charcoal, soot and coal has been used since prehistoric times. Carbon in the form of coal became known to mankind about 100 000 years ago, when our ancestors learned how to make fire. Carbon as diamond has also been known since very ancient times. So, this is one of the first elements, that people explored.

In the house of all chemical elements, Carbon lives in the 6th room.

The higher the floor on which the element lives, the less it weighs. The atomic mass of Carbon is only 12, that's why he lives on the second floor.

Every chemical element has a heart, which consists of neutrons and protons. As you can see, Carbon's heart has 6 protons and 6 neutrons.

Carbon's heart - nucleus

The circles around the nucleus called the electron cloud, because electrons surround the nucleus in them. Carbon has 2 electron clouds with 6 electrons on it, what people generally write as 1s2 2s2 2p2.

As a real super-element, Carbon can change its appearance and become a dark black coal or a crystal clear diamond. And also carbon can be very fragile in graphite or durable in a diamond. But it always solid at room temperature.

Carbon is a very common element. It's 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and the 4th most abundant element in the universe by mass.

If you would like to get a pure sample of your element then follow next steps:

1. 1. get a match
2. 2. light it
3. 3. let it burn out in an ashtray

You will have the result from the wood burning in the fire! Carbon is a by-product of the aftermath of fire. 

Impure carbon in the form of charcoal (from wood) and coke (from coal) is used in metal smelting. It is particularly important in the iron and steel industries. Graphite is used in pencils, to make brushes in electric motors and in furnace linings. Charcoal is used for purification and filtration.