Carbon

Carbon is the basic building blocks of life. In fact, we are called carbon-based life forms. Carbon comes from the Latin word “carbo”, which means coal. Carbon can come in many forms, like graphite and diamonds. Their properties also vary from one form to another, like graphite, which is electrically conductive, and diamond, which is not electrically conductive. Carbon has the ability to form bonds that are strong and stable, and can form extremely long chains and form infinite numbers of compounds.

Carbon is used in and archaeology in a process called carbon dating. Carbon dating makes use of a type of carbon called carbon-14 to precisely date the age of an organic material. Cosmic rays enter our atmosphere and collide with an atom to form an energetic neutron that would turn ordinary carbon to an isotope, carbon-14 atoms, when it collides with a nitrogen-14 atom. The ratio of regular carbon, carbon-12, and carbon-14 is nearly constant at all times in all living things on earth. Carbon-14 atoms are constantly replaced simultaneously when they decay into nitrogen-14 at equal amounts, keeping that ratio constant. So, carbon dating works by comparing the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the sample with the existing ratios in living life forms. The difference in the ratio would show how much carbon-14 was lost in the process of beta decay, and the age of the sample can be found by using the rate of decay of the carbon-14 atom. Carbon-14 helped archaeologists date many fossils, and in some cases totally rewrite what we know of our planet’s history.

Another one of carbon’s magnificent uses is in the form of activated carbon. Activated carbon is a type of carbon that is made so porous, that it is the most absorbent material known to man. A teaspoon of activated carbon has the surface area of a football field. Activated carbon absorbs impurities in gasses or liquids. The impurities get attracted to the carbon, and are locked in it. Due to the extreme porosity of the activated carbon, it can trap huge amounts of impurities with rather tiny amount of activated carbon. Activated carbon starts out as wood. The wood is heated in extreme temperatures without the prescience of oxygen, thus allowing minerals in the wood to stay in the leftover charcoal, and not vaporized by burning. The leftover charcoal would be exposed to steam and oxygen, opening millions of tiny pores in the charcoal, making it very porous, “activating” the carbon. Activated carbon has many uses. It can be used as water filters in water treatment plants, and would effectively reduce the amounts of chemicals such like chlorine used in the process. Activated carbon filters can also be used at home to purify tap water into drinking water without the need of boiling. Activated carbon is also used in air purification, trapping impurities in the air that might harm us. Activated carbon is also used in gas masks. Activated carbon can also benefit us in our health by trapping drugs or other harmful toxins that we ingested, in the form of pills.