Page 4 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into a simpler substance by
any known means. Each of the 92 naturally occurring elements is therefore one of the fundamental materials from which everything in the Universe is made. This book is about the element carbon.
Carbon
Carbon, the sixth most common element on Earth, is an essential part of nearly all living things. About 94% of the six million known compounds contain carbon,
far more than any other element. Carbon, in the form of diamond, is the
hardest natural material on Earth. Carbon is found in a wide variety of rocks, such as chalk and limestone. Compounds of carbon such
as coal, natural gas and oil, provide the world’s most important fuels.
Carbon dioxide gas is one of the main compounds in the air, playing a vital role in controlling the temperature of the atmosphere
(it is what we call a “greenhouse gas”). Carbon dioxide is also found dissolved in all water.
Carbon is an essential element in many of the man-made, or synthetic, substances that we use in the modern world, for example, plastics, all synthetic fabrics, many medicines and a wide variety of
other chemicals.
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