Carbon is the chemical element with atomic number six, it is non metallic and tetravalent -making four electrons available to form covalent chemcal bonds. There are three normal and naturally occurring isotopes with Carbon-12, and Carbon-13, being stable, while Carbon-14, happen to be radioactive, decaying with a half-life of about 5730years. Carbon is ne of few elements, known since antiquity. Carbon comes from latin language "Carbo", Coal. There are several allotropes of Carbon, of which, the best known are, graphite, diamond and amorphous Carbon. The physical properties of Carbon, vary wdely with the allotropic form; e.g Diamond is highly transparent, while graphite is opaque and black. Diamond has a very low electrical conductivity, while graphite is a good conductor. Diamond, being among the hardest materials known, while graphite is soft enough, to form a streak on paper. Graphite is a Greek word - "to write". Diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of all known materials. All the allotropic forms are solids, under normal conditions but graphite is the most "thermodynamcally" stable. All forms of Carbon are highly stable, requiring high temperature to react even with oxygen.
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