6 C Carbon 12.011
Nonmetal
Carbon 碳
[He] 2s² 2p²
- Period 2
- Group 14
- Block p
- Solid
Electron configuration
1s² 2s² 2p²
Orbital diagram (valence)
2s ↑↓
2p ↑↑
- Electrons per shell
- 2, 4
- Unpaired electrons
- 2
- Zeff (Slater)
- 3.25
Properties
- Atomic weight
- 12.011
- Electronegativity (Pauling)
- 2.55
- First ionization energy
- 1086 kJ/mol
- Electron affinity
- 121.9 kJ/mol
- Covalent radius
- 76 pm
- van der Waals radius
- 170 pm
- Melting point
- 3823 K
- Boiling point
- 4098 K
- Density
- 2.267 g/cm³
- Melting / boiling point
- 3549.8 °C / 3824.8 °C
- Common oxidation states
- +4, +2, −4
- Discovered
- Known since antiquity
Natural isotopes
| Mass number A | Atomic mass / u | Abundance |
|---|---|---|
| 12C | 12.000000 | 98.93 % |
| 13C | 13.003355 | 1.07 % |
Isotope masses: AME2020; abundances: IUPAC/CIAAW representative values.
Successive ionization energies
The big jumps appear where core electrons start to be removed. Ionization energies from the NIST Atomic Spectra Database.
Carbon in the course
The lessons that discuss this element most (ranked by mentions).
- Ellingham diagrams and metal extraction Entropy and free energy
- Formulas and composition Matter and measurement
- Extracting metals Transition metals
- Metal carbonyls and the 18-electron rule Coordination chemistry
- Molecular polarity Molecular shape
- Hess’s law and enthalpies of formation Thermochemistry
- Hybrid orbitals Molecular shape
- Buffers: resisting pH change Acids and bases
Lab experiments with Carbon
Periodic trend
Group 14
Data: PubChem periodic table (public domain); atomic weights are IUPAC abridged standard values; covalent radii from Cordero et al. (2008).