Allotropes Of Carbon Essay Examples

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Allotropes of Carbon Allotropes are different physical states which an element can exist in. Allotropes of an element are all composed of a single element but have different bonding arrangements resulting in different structures and different properties despite being formed from the same element. While many allotropes of carbon exist, the four examples that will be looked at are diamond, graphite, graphene and buckminsterfullerene. Diamond and Graphite have long been recognized as an allotrope of carbon because they’re both natural occurring allotropes but in recent years, other allotropes such as graphene and fullerenes have been discovered. All these allotropes of carbon are bonded together through covalent bonding. Covalent bonding is when atoms share electrons in order to achieve a full…show more content…
Insoluble High Graphene Graphene is a lubricant and has a slippery quality Not the hardest material but the strongest material known. Is 100 times stronger than A36 structural steel. Conducts electricity very effectively – better than silver. Insoluble High Diamond Is not a lubricant One of the hardest known natural substances. Due to the fact that all the electrons in a diamond structure are localized, diamond does not conduct electricity. Insoluble High Fullerene (C60) Used in lubricants and has a slippery quality Soft as there are only weak van der waal’s forces between the molecules. Does not conduct electricity. Insoluble low Graphite is often used as a lubricant and is a good conductor of electricity. It’s ability to conduct electricity is attributed to the delocalized electrons that are able to move freely between the layers. Since atoms are arranged in a hexagonal lattice, each carbon atom is bonded with three other carbon atoms at a bond angle of 120°. Carbon has four valence electrons (four potential bonds) and since only three bonds are made, one electron still exists in the outer orbital (p
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    Carbon exists in a number of allotropic forms. The existence of one element in a different manner, having different physical properties, but similar chemical behavior is known as allotropy (sederberg 2006). For example, diamond is the most known carbon allotrope (ibid). It is the hardest naturally occurring substance. On the other hand, graphite is the second carbon allotrope (ibid). It is a very soft material. Where is often used in lead pencils . The three best-known carbon allotropes are amorphous

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