carbon1
/ˈkɑːb(ə)n
/- It is composed mostly of isotopes of hydrogen and helium and includes 60 other elements including neon, argon carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and iron.
- Consider the top five constituents of the cosmos, in order of their abundance: hydrogen, helium, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen.
- By the 1970's there was no longer a source for the 2 1/2 inch carbons that were required for this light.
- All copies either had to be produced with carbons or on ‘skins’ fed through the temperamental duplicator.
- If there is a carbon, also ask for that from the clerk and shred it when you go home.
- This litter decomposes more slowly, resulting in a higher carbon accumulation rate.
Compounds of carbon (organic compounds) form the physical basis of all living organisms. Carbon atoms are able to link with each other and with other atoms to form chains and rings, and an infinite variety of carbon compounds exist.
Derivatives
carbonless
- One particular use is in carbonless copy papers.
- As compared with martensite-hardenable carbon-containing steels, carbonless maraging steels show, for the same strength, a substantially greater resistance to brittle fracture, which is their most remarkable merit.
- Special construction forms (for example, tractor-feed, carbonless, and accountable forms) and pamphlets intended for use in the field were still being printed.
Origin
Late 18th century: from French carbone, from Latin carbo, carbon- 'coal, charcoal'.
anthracite from late 16th century:
Originally an anthracite was a gem described by Pliny as resembling coals. The word is from Greek anthrakitēs, from anthrax, anthrak- ‘coal’ or ‘carbuncle’ (meaning both a red gem like a glowing coal, and a swelling that looks like one). The same word is the source of the disease anthrax (Late Middle English) which causes black lesions in humans. Carbuncle (Middle English) itself keeps the same image, coming from Latin carbunculus ‘small coal’ from carbo ‘coal, charcoal’, the source of words such as carbon (late 18th century).
Rhymes
carbon-122
- In 1961 the isotope carbon-12 was selected to replace oxygen as the standard relative to which the atomic weights of all the other elements are measured.
- The variability of the carbon-13/carbon-12 ratio in honeys was evaluated preliminary to use of the ratio to detect the addition of high-fructose corn syrup.
carbon-143
- Carbon-14 atoms are created when cosmic rays from the sun collide with atoms in the atmosphere. Learn about carbon-14 atoms and carbon-14 atom creation.
- When the organism dies, it stops taking in any new carbon, and the amount of carbon-14 inside it gradually decreases as it decays.