| Carbon was discovered in prehistory and was known to the ancients, who manufactured it by burning organic material in insufficient oxygen (making charcoal). The elementary nature of carbon had been discovered by Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier in late 1780-s. The three well-known allotropes of carbon from ancient times are amorphous carbon, graphite, and diamond. From the antiquity graphite, named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789, was known for its use in drawing/writing. However carbon's history is very complex. It was often confused with other substances with similar physical properties, such as molybdenite (molybdenum sulphide) considered as graphite at one time it is also known as black-lead, plumbago, mineral\xC2\xA0carbon, and mineral black. In 1779 Karl Scheele specified that graphite may be oxidized extracting carbon dioxide. The international name is originated from "carbo" - coal associated with the ancient root "kar", which means heat. The same root is in the Latin word "cremare" which means "to burn". |
| The abundance of carbon in the Earth crust is 0.1% of its mass. As the free element it forms allotropes from differing kinds of carbon-carbon bonds, such as in graphite and diamond. Carbon is a major component of very large masses carbonate rock (limestone, dolomite, marble etc.) Coal is the main source of carbon in mineral form, containing up to 95% of carbon in anthracite (94-97% C), and brown coal (64-80% C), bituminous coal (76-95% C), oil shale (56-78% C), petroleum (82-87% C), combustion and natural gases (up to 99% of methane), turf (53-56% C) as well as bitumen etc. As a carbon dioxide carbon is present in the Earth& |