Carbon - Periodic Table of Videos

00:10:02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuW4_bRHbUk

Summary

TLDRCarbon is a vital element known for its ability to form a wide variety of compounds, due to carbon atoms' capacity to form long chains. It is essential in fuels, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and human physiology. Carbon is found in multiple allotropes, including diamond, graphite, and the recently discovered graphene, which has significant potential in electronics for its strength and electrical conductivity. Fullerenes (C60 and C70) and carbon nanotubes represent newly discovered forms of carbon with unique properties and applications. The video highlights the significance of carbon in various aspects of life and science, explaining the structure and properties of each allotrope and the advancements in carbon research.

Takeaways

  • 🧬 Carbon forms diverse compounds due to its chain-forming ability.
  • πŸ”— Long carbon chains are crucial for building complex molecules.
  • πŸ›’οΈ Carbon is vital in fuels, plastics, and pharmaceuticals.
  • πŸ’Ž Diamond's structure gives it extreme strength and clarity.
  • ✏️ Graphite consists of layers, making it useful in pencils.
  • πŸŒ‘ Graphene is a single-atom-thick carbon layer with unique properties.
  • ⚽ Fullerenes like C60 and C70 have unique soccer ball-like structures.
  • πŸ“‘ Carbon nanotubes have significant electrical conductivity applications.
  • πŸ”¬ Recent discoveries have expanded carbon's forms and uses.
  • πŸŽ–οΈ Nobel Prize awarded for graphene's discovery.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:10:02

    Carbon is integral to countless compounds because it forms long chains easily, unlike atoms that form fewer bonds. This unique bonding ability allows for complex molecular structures, hence its prevalence in organic chemistry and everyday materials. Carbon exists in different forms, including charcoal, coal, diamonds, and graphite. Significant discoveries in recent years have revealed exciting new carbon forms such as graphene and buckyballs, promising novel applications in materials and technology. Graphene, a single atomic layer of carbon, offers potential for future advancements due to its thinness and versatility in electronic applications. Lastly, carbon nanotubes, known for their conductivity, highlight the ongoing exploration of carbon's remarkable properties.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • Why is carbon unique in forming a vast number of compounds?

    Carbon atoms can form chains of varying lengths, sometimes millions of atoms long, making carbon compounds highly diverse.

  • How is carbon found in everyday life?

    Carbon is present in fuels, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and the human body in various compounds and forms.

  • What are some allotropes of carbon?

    Notable allotropes include graphite, diamond, fullerenes (like C60 and C70), graphene, and carbon nanotubes.

  • What is graphene?

    Graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice and is known for its strength and conductivity.

  • How does the structure of diamond differ from graphite?

    Diamond's carbon atoms are arranged in a strong tetrahedral pattern, while graphite's are in layers with weak interlayer bonds.

  • Why is diamond colorless?

    Diamond is colorless because its electrons are tightly bound, absorbing no visible light.

  • What is the significance of C60 and C70 molecules?

    These molecules, known as fullerenes, have unique properties and are characterized by their distinct molecular shapes.

  • How are carbon nanotubes used?

    Carbon nanotubes are used for their electrical conductivity and strength, with applications in electronics and material science.

  • Why is carbon essential?

    Carbon is crucial for life, being a primary component of organic molecules and numerous compounds we use daily.

  • What awards were given for graphene discovery?

    The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 2010 for the discovery of graphene due to its groundbreaking properties.

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  • 00:00:00
    Carbon is a fantastically important element.
  • 00:00:03
    There are probably, far more molecules that contain carbon, than any other element.
  • 00:00:10
    The reason why you can get so many carbon compounds, is that carbon atoms,
  • 00:00:18
    form chains very, very easily. Sometimes millions of atoms long. If you just have
  • 00:00:26
    atoms that will form one or two bonds then you can't build up huge numbers of
  • 00:00:33
    molecules.
  • 00:00:34
    If there's no limit to the number of bonds you can make, You can make things
  • 00:00:38
    that are really long.
  • 00:00:40
    It's like the difference between a lorry; a truck which can pull if you're
  • 00:00:45
    lucky, one trailer or perhaps two and a train where you can put as many wagons
  • 00:00:51
    or carriages as you want. So you can get really long train,
  • 00:00:55
    so it's just the same with carbon.
  • 00:01:01
    So carbon it's around us everywhere. We're all carbon, there are lots of carbon
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    in us, in all the hydrocarbons within our body.
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    Lots of that structures inside us and many many of the materials
  • 00:01:11
    that we use every day.
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    In fact the majority of us use carbon in the form of fuels every day to get to
  • 00:01:16
    work or to go home. Without carbon we couldn't exist.
  • 00:01:20
    You're carbon, I'm carbon, We have bones made that of calcium. But the important
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    parts of our brains contain largely carbon. They contain nitrogen and oxygen
  • 00:01:31
    and hydrogen as well, but carbon is the key.
  • 00:01:35
    Carbon is one of the very few elements; that has given rise to a whole area of
  • 00:01:42
    chemistry. Organic chemistry; the chemistry of carbon compounds, is almost
  • 00:01:48
    a separate discipline from some of the areas of chemistry and most of the
  • 00:01:55
    molecules that we use for plastics, for pharmaceutical products, for our food are
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    all carbon compounds. Carbon is an extremely common element but it comes
  • 00:02:09
    in a number of different allotropes, so different forms and this one here; this
  • 00:02:13
    is actually some charcoal, which is just simple carbon. It's very, very similar and
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    very very in fresh into it to graphite. You can find lumps of carbon lying
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    around.
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    This is a piece here, that I found on a beach, on the northeast of England;
  • 00:02:30
    it's a piece of coal. Its not absolutely pure carbon, but it has a very high
  • 00:02:35
    proportion of carbon and compared to other stones, of this sort of size,
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    it's really quite light more recently people have discovered diamonds, and of
  • 00:02:46
    course graphite which is the black material that you get in pencils. People
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    call them lead pencils but they actually contain the form of carbon called graphite
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    so carbon comes graphite, as diamond, and also as as buckyballs or fullerenes so
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    the carbon here which is a bit like the graphite; it is very amorphous and
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    it's very very free-flowing so I'm going to pour a little bit of
  • 00:03:12
    carbon out onto the paper so you can see so you can see its a very light powder
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    and you can see that it's a very very nice, easily maneuverable and a really easy workable material.
  • 00:03:24
    The thing that's really exciting is that in the last 20 years people have
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    discovered new forms of carbon;
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    now this is extraordinary! People have known of carbon for thousands of years,
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    even longer, and suddenly in the last 20 years the number of different types of
  • 00:03:44
    carbon has grown enormously.
  • 00:03:47
    I have a colleague who is a specialist in these new forms of carbon and I went
  • 00:03:52
    and asked him for a model and he gave me a whole suitcase of models.
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    Let me show you.
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    ...
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    So, what did we get?
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    First of all, this is a model of graphite. The materials in the middle of pencils and it consists of layers of rings, hexagonal rings of carbon atoms.
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    That six carbon atoms; and they're joined together in layers.
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    Can you see here? There are purple bonds in between them.
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    You can see they're not very strong; one is even broken here. Very recently in the
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    last 10 years its been discovered that using a piece of sellotape, you can pull
  • 00:04:43
    off these layers; and make single sheets of these carbon atoms.
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    It's called graphene. The 2-2010 Nobel Prize for physics, was given to two
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    scientists for discovering graphene, There's this structure here; where each
  • 00:05:02
    carbon atom is joined to 4 others, in this sort of tetrahedral pattern.
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    Tetrahedron is this group one in the middle with four rounded, and this–is
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    diamond; it's really very strong.
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    Whichever way you squash it, it's strong.
  • 00:05:23
    You can't peel off layers of diamond with a piece of sellotape. Diamonds are colorless; and to understand why, you
  • 00:05:30
    have to understand; what gives rise to color, and the color of anything
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    my tie, anything are caused by electrons in the molecules or material and they
  • 00:05:42
    absorb energy and go from one level to another. In diamond,
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    there are bonds between all the carbon atoms that use all the electrons. The
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    electrons are very tightly bound and none of them can change their energy
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    state,
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    so you get no absorption. At least in the visible region of the spectrum.
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    On the other hand with graphite, the electrons are less strongly bound. In
  • 00:06:11
    fact it conducts electricity and it's black because the electrons will absorb
  • 00:06:17
    all wavelengths of visible light right from the blue to the red so that it
  • 00:06:23
    looks black because none of the light is reflected from it. Inside here we have
  • 00:06:30
    the famous molecule, C60 like a football (soccer ball US) 60 carbon atoms and Ray has put a little
  • 00:06:39
    one inside here but forget that for a moment.
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    So you can have this molecule C60 first discovered in the late 1980's.
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    and only isolated in the early 1990's and there is a very similar
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    molecule which looks a bit more squashed which is C70. Now these are also colored,
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    but their color is rather different. Have a look here.
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    I've got two samples one of C60 and one of C70 both of them dissolved up in the
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    solvent toluene.
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    So if you look here C70 is a sort of reddish brown color and C60 in the
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    solvent has a beautiful color.
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    I call it purple, other people call it magenta. Back to the box (suitcase)
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    ...
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    and in here, we have the final form of carbon which are called nanotubes
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    these are whole tubes; made up of hexagons. You have two sorts one which is
  • 00:07:43
    closed at the end and this one here which is open
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    rather like a basket.
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    you can put things inside it the final model is graphene this material that you
  • 00:07:59
    can peel off graphite with a seller tape sticky tape and the reason that people
  • 00:08:05
    get so excited is first of all this is a very thin material
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    it's only one atom thick and you can react
  • 00:08:14
    the carbon atoms on here with all sorts of different molecules
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    you can make very strong materials you can start making electronics carbon
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    computers things like that
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    many people believe that graphene is one of the materials of the future
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    this is one of and raised exhibits
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    he uses it in exhibitions to measure electrical conductivity to see if you
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    take a piece of metal like this coin and you put the two electrodes on there you
  • 00:08:47
    can see it conducts electricity all the lights light up and the needle goes
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    across so he's got different samples
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    this one here is coal and this is graphite
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    so there's a track of this is a photo and this is a track of coal between two
  • 00:09:05
    metal electrodes and you can see if we put the electrodes on here the coal
  • 00:09:11
    doesn't conduct electricity at all
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    however if we take the graphite and do the same
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    it conducts electricity not very well but you can see you do get some
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    electricity going through on this other sheet
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    he's got a sample of C60 and here of the carbon nanotubes and you can see the
  • 00:09:39
    C60 doesn't conduct electricity either the electrons can't jump between one
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    molecule and the other but when you come to the carbon nanotubes which are long
  • 00:09:50
    molecules they conduct electricity really well not quite as well as a metal
  • 00:09:56
    but pretty close
Tags
  • carbon
  • allotropes
  • organic chemistry
  • graphene
  • carbon compounds
  • nanotubes
  • diamond
  • graphite
  • fullerenes
  • carbon chain