carbon (C) /kärbən/ [L, carbo, coal] , a nonmetallic, almost always tetravalent element. Its atomic number is 6; its atomic mass is 12.011. Carbon occurs in pure form in diamonds, graphite, and fullerenes and is a component of all living tissue. The study of organic chemistry focuses on the vast number of carbon compounds. Carbon occurs in impure form in charcoal, coke, and soot, and in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Carbon is essential to the chemical mechanisms of the body, participating in many metabolic processes and acting as a component of carbohydrates, amino acids, triglycerides, deoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acids, and many other compounds. See also carbon-11, carbon-14.
