[MD] subject/object: pragmatism

[Platt Holden]

Krimel,

Many thanks for this summary. Much better than the Wikipedia article on 
carbon for the great unwashed like me. Makes me wonder what the probability
is that such a versatile element exists at all. :-) In any case, I 
appreciate your taking the time to answer. Always a quality experience to 
learn something new. 


> [Krimel]
> This is not a subject about which I even pretend to any expertise but I
> believe your assessment of carbon's susceptibility to chance is correct. As
> I understand it carbon's position on the periodic table puts it midway
> between metal and non metals. As a result it can form chemical bonds with
> just about any other element. It is so versatile in this respect that
> Organic chemistry is a branch of the science of chemistry that studies
> exclusively compounds of carbon. All life is based on organic chemistry or
> compounds of carbon. 
> 
> Carbon has the ability to be a part of such an enormous number of static
> patterns and yet still be susceptible to dynamic change. It is intimately
> involved in the transduction of a host of energy patterns in the environment
> from one form to another. The most striking example of this is the
> transduction of light energy from the sun into chemical energy in plants.
> Photosynthesis occurs as light is transduced into sugars. The sugar acts as
> a battery storing the sun's energy so that it can be release later.
> 
> Carbon has many other interesting properties as well. You note diamonds and
> coal. Compounds of graphite, another form of carbon, are now used to make a
> host of light weight but very strong and durable products. Fullerenes or
> Bucky balls are composed of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a shape rather like
> a geodesic dome. (Invented by Buckminster Fuller, hence the name) These
> carbon molecules have marvelous properties that are only now being
> discovered and studied but they include the ability to form into long and
> sturdy tubes that may form the basis for nanotechnological engineering in
> the future.