A chemical element found in all living things and in substances like coal, graphite, and diamond.
It comes from French 'carbone', from Latin 'carbo', meaning 'charcoal' or 'coal'. Scientists kept the old word for burnt wood and coal when naming the element that makes up those materials.
The same element that makes soft pencil lead also builds the hardest natural material—diamond. 'Carbon' is the master shape-shifter of chemistry, forming everything from your DNA to the exhaust from your car.
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