Name       : Carbon
Symbol     : C
Atomic #   : 6
Atom weight: 12.011
Melting P. : 3550
Boiling P. : 4827
Oxidation  : +2, +4, -4
Pronounced : KAR-ben
From       : Latin carbo, "charcoal"
Identified : In many forms known in ancient times
Appearance : Dense, Black
Note       : Allotropic forms include graphite and diamond
             Extremely important to life forms

[Properties]

  Carbon heads the list of Group-IVA elements.  Carbon combines very
slowly with oxygen at room temperature.  At moderately high temperature,
however, carbon combines with oxygen quite readily.  It can even be said
that carbon becomes "oxygen hungry" at red-hot temperatures.  Most
metals can be reduced from their oxides simply by heating them in the
presence of carbon.  Iron, for example, is reduced from iron oxide by
heating it in the presence of a form of carbon known as coke.
  Carbon has three well-known allotropic forms: amorphous, graphite,
and diamond.  Unlike the allotropic forms of most other elements, the
transition from one form of carbon to another is not a simple matter of
changing its temperature.  The allotropes of carbon are originally
formed under certain conditions of raw materials, pressure, temperature,
and time.  Once the allotropic form is set, it is extremely difficult to
force the transition to a different form.
