QUOTE FOR THE DAY

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

Albert Einstein

CARBON IS A UNIQUE ELEMENT. IT IS IN THE CENTER OF THE PERIODIC TABLE AND HAS 4 VALENCE ELECTRONS.

ITS ATTRACTION FOR ELECTRONS IS TOO GREAT FOR IT TO REACT BY LOSING ELECTRONS, BUT THE ATTRACTION IS NOT GREAT ENOUGH FOR IT TO REACT BY GAINING ELECTRONS.

CARBON REACTS CHEMICALLY BY SHARING ELECTRONS - IT FORMS COVALENT BONDS.

CARBON CAN FORM FOUR SINGLE COVALENT BONDS WITH OTHER CARBON ATOMS OR WITH A NUMBER OF OTHER ELEMENTS.

IN NATURE IT EXISTS IN THREE DIFFERENT FORMS.

1) GRAPHITE

2) DIAMOND

3) BUCKY BALLS

THE FORM THAT IS STABLE AT LOW PRESSURES AND NORMAL TEMPERATURES IS GRAPHITE.

DIAMOND IS STABLE AT HIGH PRESSURES AND TEMPERATURES.

Diamond Graphite Bucky Balls

  Diamond Graphite

Boiling Point 4827 C 4827 C

Melting Point 3550 C 3550 C

Hardness Hardest sub. Known

Soft

Conductivity Insulator Good conductor

Density 3.514 g/cm3 2.26 g/cm3

GRAPHITE CAN BE CONVERTED TO DIAMOND UNDER VERY HIGH PRESSURES AND TEMPERATURES.

THIS CAN BE DONE IN THE LAB, AND INDUSTRIAL DIAMONDS ARE MADE THIS WAY.

IN NATURE, IT IS THOUGHT THAT DIAMONDS WERE MADE DEEP UNDERGROUND IN THE VENTS OF VOLCANOES.

DO DIAMONDS BURN??

Indeed, diamonds do burn. However, since they're pure carbon, and in theburning process are converted to carbon dioxide (only), there is no ashresidue whatever.

Had an interesting thing occur once when a home burned down and a rather"costly" jewelry piece was lost. It turned out that what was thought tobe a diamond was found amid the melted gold remains of the setting. Thestone was completely intact and undamaged. It was later discovered to bea cubic zirconia (fake diamond) that would not burn. The fellow's wifewas not impressed that her husband would have fooled her into thinkinghe had spent big money on a diamond when he had actually bought her avastly less expensive cubic zirconia.

Regards,ProfHoff

SINCE CARBON CAN FORM CHEMICAL BONDS WITH ITSELF AND WITH A NUMBER OF OTHER ELEMENTS, LITERALLY MILLIONS OF CARBON CONTAINING COMPOUNDS EXIST.

MANY OF THEM ARE IMPORTANT COMPOUNDS FOR LIFE.

INDEED, CARBON CONTAINING COMPOUNDS ARE THE BASIS FOR LIFE AS WE KNOW IT.

Major Elements Symbol           Percentage (by weight)Oxygen O 65.0Carbon C 18.5Hydrogen H 9.5Nitrogen N 3.3Calcium Ca 1.5Phosphorus P 1.0Potassium K 0.4Sulfur S 0.3Sodium Na 0.2Chlorine Cl 0.2Magnesium Mg 0.1 Trace Elementstogether less than 0.1%          boron (B), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), Fluorine (F), iodine (I), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se), silicon (Si), tin(Sn), vanadium(V), & zinc(Zn).

IF YOU CONSIDER JUST THE COMPOUNDS FORMED BETWEEN CARBON AND HYDROGEN, THERE ARE MILLIONS OF COMPOUNDS IN EXISTENCE. MANY OF THESE ARE IMPORTANT AS FUELS.

COMPOUNDS FORMED FROM CARBON AND HYDROGEN ARE CALLED HYDROCARBONS.

THE SIMPLEST HYDROCARBON IS METHANE, A MAJOR COMPONENT IN NATURAL GAS.

THE NEXT HYDROCARBON IN THE SERIES IS ETHANE, ALSO FOUND IN NATURAL GAS.

AS YOU CONTINUE TO ADD CARBONS, YOU GET ADDITIONAL COMPOUNDS.

WITH BUTANE (4 CARBONS), THERE TURNS OUT TO BE MORE THAN ONE WAY TO ARRANGE THE CARBONS IN THE MOLECULE.

THESE COMPOUNDS HAVE THE SAME GENERAL FORMULA, C4H10

THEY ARE CALLED ISOMERS.

ISOMERS ARE COMPOUNDS WITH THE SAME GENERAL FORMULA, BUT DIFFERENT STRUCTURAL FORMULA.

AS THE NUMBER OF CARBONS INCREASES, THE NUMBER OF POSSIBLE ISOMERS INCREASES.

No. of Carbons No. of Isomers

6 5

7 9

9 35

10 75

20 366,319

30 4,111,846,763

YOU WOULD FIND MANY OF THESE COMPOUNDS IN PETROLEUM.

THIS MAKES PETROLEUM A VERY COMPLEX MIXTURE, AND SOME OF THE COMPOUNDS HAVE PROPERTIES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO CERTAIN KINDS OF FUELS.

ONE OF THE PROCESSES PETROLEUM UNDERGOES IS DISTILLATION.

DISTILLATION IS SEPARATION OF THE COMPOUNDS BY BOILING POINT.

THIS ALSO SEPARATES THE COMPOUNDS BY NUMBERS OF CARBONS PER MOLECULE.

FOR EXAMPLE:

NATURAL GAS C1 AND C2 COMPOUNDS

LPG C3 AND C4

GASOLINE C5 TO C12

KEROSINE C12 TO C18

DIESEL FUEL C14 TO C20

HOME HEATING OIL C16 TO C22

LUBRICANT BASE OIL C20 TO C40

OIL REFINERY IN CALIFORNIA