What Are The Compounds Of Carbon?

Carbon is one of the most abundant elements and has been known from very early times. It is a unique element with widely different forms, properties and values. It shows different allotropic forms (diamond, graphite, coal, coke, charcoal, etc.), all having different physical properties and behaviour. Carbon is unique in another way. The number of its compounds is so vast and their properties so peculiar that a separate branch of chemistry (organic chemistry) has been developed for their study.

Compounds of no other element serve man in so many different ways as those of carbon. All food materials (sugar, starch, proteins, fats), fuels (wood, kerosene, coal, natural gas), clothes (cotton, terylene, polyester, nylon, silk), and drugs, etc. are compounds of carbon. Carbon is the principal constituent of the vast deposits of long-dead animals and plants which form coal, petroleum, and natural gas resources. It is present in the form of carbonate in rocks and the sea. Small amounts of carbon dioxide are present in air.