- There is a very wide variety of synthetically made polymers, most of which contain carbon. Polymers are very large molecules made by chemical reactions that join together smaller molecules in repeating units, like links in a chain. A single polymer molecule can easily contain thousands of smaller atoms, and these molecules can be linked together to become even larger, such as during the vulcanization of tire rubber. A common polymer that contains carbon is polyethylene, which is made of repeating units of -CH2CH2-.
- As with most aspects of chemistry, nature invented polymers before people did. Many naturally occurring polymers in plants and animals are based on carbon. One of the most important polymers is DNA, the complex chain of chemicals that contains the blueprint for each living thing. DNA contains a large amount of carbon. Other carbon-containing natural polymers include proteins, such as the ones which make up muscles, and starches.
- The purest forms of carbon are graphite and diamond. Although they seem very different from each other, each of these materials is made solely of carbon atoms joined to one another. The difference between the two lies in the type of arrangement of the carbon atoms to each other. In graphite, the carbon atoms are arranged into flat sheets that lie on top of one another. Because the sheets are not bonded together, graphite can be disrupted by force. In diamond, the carbons are joined together into a three-dimensional crystal lattice, making the gem much stronger.
- Scientists in the 1980s discovered a form of pure carbon different from either graphite or diamond. Under specific conditions of heat and pressure, carbon atoms will join together into spherical structures. These structures reminded scientists of the domelike structures designed by architect Buckminster Fuller, and so they were called buckyballs or fullerenes. One of the most stable fullerenes is a ball-shaped structure made of 60 carbon atoms.
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