Carbon

one of the important chemical elements. Pure carbon occurs in two widely different forms, the diamond and graphite or plumbago. Charcoal, soft coal, and hard coal are largely carbon. The purer the carbon, the better the quality of the coal. Under ordinary circumstances carbon is an inactive element. A piece of charcoal, or graphite, or a diamond will lie for ages in ordinary water unchanged. They are without taste or odor and cannot be melted; yet under favorable conditions carbon is distinguished for the number of chemical combinations into which it enters.

Carbon is the great fuel. Under the influence of heat it burns; that is, it unites with oxygen and disappears in a gas. In coal, kerosene, gas, oil, fat, lard, tallow, suet, blubber, wood, or any form of fuel whatever, carbon is the element which burns and, uniting with oxygen, gives heat and light.

Carbon is an important and indispensable part of animal and plant life. Any substance that chars with heat contains carbon. Charcoal is merely the carbon of wood left behind when the volatile parts of the wood are evaporated by heat. A black char of carbon may be obtained from any flesh or vegetable substance by driving off the other substances by heating.

Black as carbon is, it is an important part of all the grains. Green grass, hay, sugar, starch, alcohol, limestone, marble, and chalk contain carbon. It is present in tea, coffee, bread, wine, vinegar, milk, and in almost every article, especially fatty articles of food. A trace is present in all spring water, and mineral waters of note contain considerable quantities of carbon.

See Diamond; Coal; Charcoal; Sugar; Oil; Food; Carbon Dioxide; Bone Black; Filter