Carbon

 =Carbon=


 * Atomic Number:** 6


 * Protons:** 6


 * Electrons:** 6


 * Neutrons:** 6 


 * Average Atomic Mass:** 12.011 amu


 * Isotopes:** Carbon-9, Carbon-10, Carbon-11, Carbon-12, Carbon-13, Carbon-14, Carbon-15, Carbon-16, Carbon-17


 * Discovery:** Carbon was discovered by known since ancient times although not recognized as an element until much later.

 **Name:** Origin of name: from the Latin word "//carbo//" meaning "//charcoal//" Lavoisier called the element // carbone // to distinguish it from // charbon // (//French//) for charcoal. Carbon( C=#6) :  (Latin) = Carbonis (Greek) = charcoal (English). Smithson Tennant confirmed in 1797 that diamonds are solely Carbon by combining a weighed diamond with saltpeter in a Gold tube.


 * Uses:** As carbon's major properties very widely depending upon its form, carbon's uses also very greatly. Carbon-14 which is radioactive is used in "carbon dating" (//telling how old something is by determining the amount of Carbon-14 present in the item being tested as compared to a standard value for a similar object which is new//). Other uses include pencils, diamonds, steel, controls nuclear reactions, tire colorant, plastics, paint pigments, lubricants and much more**.**


 * Interesting Facts**: A diamond is a transparent crystal of carbon atoms and are the hardest natural material known to man. Carbon has many forms each having very different physical properties from the other. Graphite (pencil lead) for instance is one of the softest forms of carbon, while diamonds are the hardest. With more than eighteen million compounds of carbon. There are so many different types of carbon, that there is an entire field of chemistry called organic chemistry that is devoted to these compounds.


 * Video:** media type="youtube" key="wmC8Dg4n-ZA" height="344" width="425"

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 * Sources**
 * **Photo:** http://www.flickr.com/photos/swamibu/1182138940/
 * **Video:** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmC8Dg4n-ZA
 * [|Carbon on WebElements]
 * [|Carbons Isotopes]
 * [|How Carbon was named]
 * [|Sources and Uses of Carbon]
 * [|The Periodic Table of Videos]