History
Carbon has been known since ancient times, but there is no known discoverer. The earliest known use of carbon was by the Egyptians and Sumerians. They made and used Wood chars (charcoal), as well as Charcoal being used as domestic smokeless fuel. Probably make one sentence. In 1722, Rene Reaumur published his Hypothesis that carbon might be an element. He discovered this while trying to figure out the difference between Iron and steel.
Carbon, the sixth most abundant element in the universe, Carbon comes from the latin word carbo. Carbon is most commonly obtained from coal deposits, although it usually must be processed into a form suitable for commercial use. Carbon occurs naturally as anthracite (a type of coal), graphite, and diamond. More readily available historically was soot or charcoal. Ultimately these various materials were recognised as forms of the same element. Not surprisingly, diamond posed the greatest difficulty of identification. Naturalist Giuseppe Averani and medic Cipriano Targioni of Florence were the first to discover that diamonds could be destroyed by heating. In 1694 they focussed sunlight on to a diamond using a large magnifying glass and the gem eventually disappeared. Pierre-Joseph Macquer and Godefroy de Villetaneuse repeated the experiment in 1771. Then, in 1796, the English chemist Smithson Tennant finally proved that diamond was just a form of carbon by showing that as it burned it formed only CO2.
A new form however, of carbon was discovered in 1985 by Harold Kroto (Sussex University), Robert Curl, Jr. (Rice University), and Richard Smalley (Rice University). The new form was called "buckministerfullerene" because its molecules resemble the geodesic domes designed by architect Buckminister Fuller for the 1967 World's fair. "Buckyballs" are being considered in the design of next-generation lubricants, drug delivery systems, industrial catalysts, and nanoscale machinery.
Carbon, the sixth most abundant element in the universe, Carbon comes from the latin word carbo. Carbon is most commonly obtained from coal deposits, although it usually must be processed into a form suitable for commercial use. Carbon occurs naturally as anthracite (a type of coal), graphite, and diamond. More readily available historically was soot or charcoal. Ultimately these various materials were recognised as forms of the same element. Not surprisingly, diamond posed the greatest difficulty of identification. Naturalist Giuseppe Averani and medic Cipriano Targioni of Florence were the first to discover that diamonds could be destroyed by heating. In 1694 they focussed sunlight on to a diamond using a large magnifying glass and the gem eventually disappeared. Pierre-Joseph Macquer and Godefroy de Villetaneuse repeated the experiment in 1771. Then, in 1796, the English chemist Smithson Tennant finally proved that diamond was just a form of carbon by showing that as it burned it formed only CO2.
A new form however, of carbon was discovered in 1985 by Harold Kroto (Sussex University), Robert Curl, Jr. (Rice University), and Richard Smalley (Rice University). The new form was called "buckministerfullerene" because its molecules resemble the geodesic domes designed by architect Buckminister Fuller for the 1967 World's fair. "Buckyballs" are being considered in the design of next-generation lubricants, drug delivery systems, industrial catalysts, and nanoscale machinery.