Title: carbon
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - carbon
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.C00821
Status: current

Definition
Element number 6 of the periodic table of elements (electronic ground state \(1\rm{s}^{2}2\rm{s}^{2}2\rm{p}^{2}\)). For a description of the various types of carbon as a solid the term carbon should be used only in combination with an additional noun or a clarifying adjective.

Related Terms
- amorphous carbon: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/A00294
- carbon fibres: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00831
- carbon material: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00841
- glass-like carbon: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/G02639
- graphitic carbon: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/G02689
- ground state: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/G02704
- non-graphitic carbon: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/N04193
- pyrolytic carbon: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04963

Source
- PAC, 1995, 67, 473. 'Recommended terminology for the description of carbon as a solid (IUPAC Recommendations 1995)' on page 479 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199567030473)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C00821/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C00821/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C00821/xml

Citation: Citation: 'carbon' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.C00821
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-14T17:34:08+00:00