Importance of Carbon in Daily Life

IMPORTANCE OF CARBON IN DAILY LIFE

In the last Chapter, we came to know many compounds of importance to us. In this chapter, we will study some more interesting compounds and their properties. Also, we shall be learning about carbon, an element which is of immense significance to us in both its elemental form and in the combined form.

Activity 4.1

Make a list of ten things you have used or consumed since the morning.

Compile this list with the lists made by your classmates and then sort the items into the below Table.

If there are items that are made up of more than one material, put them into both the relevant columns of the table.

Look at the items that come in the last column of the above table filled by you – your teacher will be able to tell you that most of them are made up of compounds of carbon. Can you think of a method to test this? What would be the product if a compound containing carbon is burnt? Do you know of any tests to confirm this?

Food, clothes, medicines, books, or many of the things that you listed are all based on this versatile element carbon. In addition, all living structures are carbon-based. The amount of carbon present in the earth’s crust and in the atmosphere is quite meager. The earth’s crust has only 0.02% carbon in the form of minerals (like carbonates, hydrogen- carbonates, coal, and petroleum) and the atmosphere has 0.03% of carbon dioxide. In spite of this small amount of carbon available in nature, the importance of carbon seems to be immense. In this Chapter, we will know about the properties of carbon which make carbon so important to us.