why is carbon an important element
Carbon forms a vast number of compounds, more than any other element, with almost ten million compounds described to date, and yet that number is but a fraction of the number of theoretically possible compounds under standard conditions. For this reason, carbon has often been referred to as the king of the elements.
Carbon is the basic building block for all forms of life on Earth. Fortunately, carbon is also one of the most abundant elements on our planet. Like all matter, carbon can neither be created nor destroyed, and so all living organisms must find a way to continually reuse the finite carbon supply that is available.
The short answer isâ¦yes! Carbon atoms form the âbackboneâ of almost all the important biological molecules floating around in our bodies (except water, of course.) Therefore, when we say life is âcarbon based,â we mean that our skin, hair and cells are all made out of molecules that contain large amounts of carbon.