• Question: where do we put all the carbon?

    Asked by anon-182300 on 19 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Liza Selley

      Liza Selley answered on 19 Jun 2018:

      Hi Sophie245,

      Carbon is one of the main building blocks of life. It forms the backbones of many of the molecules that our bodies are made up of and use. Sugars, fats and proteins all contain lots of carbon and our bodies use these for energy, to build new cells and to be healthy.

    • Photo: Claire Donald

      Claire Donald answered on 19 Jun 2018:

      Where would we be without carbon! Although its not the most abundant element, it is found in lots of things and life would not exist without it. In fact, more things are known to contain carbon than those that don’t 🙂

      For example, its found in the cells of all plants, animals and bacteria, in the Earth’s crust, in coal and natural gas, in corals, it makes up oyster and clam shells, and is found in some stars. We can even use carbon to help determine the age of natural materials using a process called carbon dating.

      We need it to put the lead in our pencils and the diamonds on our fingers. Incidentally, graphite carbon is one of the softest natural materials while diamond carbon is one of the hardest. The only difference between the two is their crystal structure.

      Its involved in chemical reactions like the carbon cycle which involves changing atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbohydrates in plants. Animals eat the plants and release carbon as carbon dioxide when they breathe so the cycle continues.

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