The Element that is Keeping You Alive: Carbon!

A short video explaining what carbon is and why it is important for life. I hope that you guys all learned something new from this video :)

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:21 What is carbon?
01:47 Carbon compounds
02:48 Other carbon uses
03:23 Summary

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc72E1j9RRY

Sources:
https://biologyjunction.com/why-is-carbon-so-important-in-biology/
https://flexbooks.ck12.org/cbook/ck-12-biology-flexbook-2.0/section/1.9/primary/lesson/significance-of-carbon-bio/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/organic-compounds
https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_Introductory_Biology_(CK-12)/01%3A_Introduction_to_Biology/1.09%3A_Significance_of_Carbon

Transcript:
Carbon is the most important element on the periodic table in terms of life, so important that there is literally an entire field of study based on studying carbon: organic chemistry! So why is carbon so crucial for life? In this video, we will go over what makes carbon special, some of the most important carbon-containing compounds, and other uses of carbon.

So what even is carbon? Carbon is the sixth element on the periodic table, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe. The most important and relevant property of carbon is that it can form very stable bonds not only with itself, but with many other elements as well. Since it has 4 valence electrons, and it needs 8 total valence electrons total to become stable, it has many options. Carbon can either bond with 4 other atoms, bond with 3 other atoms with a double bond between one of them, or bond with 2 other atoms with two double bonds. 6 carbon and 6 hydrogen atoms can form into a ring shape, or benzene, 3 carbon can bond with 8 hydrogen atoms to form propane, 6 carbon, 6 oxygen, and 12 hydrogen atoms can form glucose, or sugar, and the list goes on and on. Note that all of the points here represent a carbon atom. All of the compounds that contain carbon, like the ones mentioned here, are considered organic compounds, and all living things depend on organic compounds to survive. But what about other elements? Silicon, despite having 4 valence electrons, can't form stable bonds like carbon. Other potential elements aren’t abundant enough to form life in the first place, and the more abundant elements such as hydrogen and helium don’t have the properties of being able to form stable bonds like carbon. So it is not an exaggeration to say that without carbon, not a single living thing will be, well, alive.

There are four major organic compounds that make life possible, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. They are also known as macronutrients, which are present in every living organism no matter the size. Carbohydrates are compounds like sugar that provide us with energy, and they take on this ring shape. Lipids are compounds like fat that store energy, and they take on this long chain shape, really highlighting that carbon is able to form stable bonds with itself. Proteins are compounds like antibodies and enzymes that have many roles such as speeding up chemical reactions and building muscles, and they take on this complex shape with many different variations. Lastly, nucleic acids are compounds like DNA and RNA that store genetic information, and they take on 4 different shapes based on the nucleotide. Again, we notice here that all of those structures contain a bunch of carbon, which keeps us alive.

So what about other uses of carbon? Carbon is essential when it comes to respiration and photosynthesis, as oxygen and carbon dioxide are being exchanged. Some materials such as plastic and rubber also contain carbon, but they are considered synthetic organic compounds, because those materials are derived from petroleum. And speaking of, fuel such as coal and oil also contain a lot of carbon, which is widely used by us humans. Lastly, we have minerals such as diamonds and graphite that are entirely made of carbon, which are quite expensive for an element as abundant as carbon.

And there we have it! Carbon is known as the element of life because it is the only element that is able to form stable bonds with itself or with many other elements. This property alone is enough to create life as we know it through the formation of macronutrients, along with many other uses such as in photosynthesis and making synthetic organic compounds. I hope that y’all have learned something interesting today, thank you for watching, and good luck with everything!

#carbon #chemistry #zeleonscience