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why substances like charcoal, graphite and diamond have different properties when all these substances are made up of the same type of atoms, called carbon atom? |
Charcoal is a carbon byproduct that's made by taking the water out. It's made by heating wood or bone char without oxygen, then forming the remaining ash into charcoal. Diamond and Graphite are allotropes of carbon. Allotropes mean same element that shows different structural form and each has different properties. Well known forms of carbon are diamond and graphite. Diamond is a metastable allotrope of carbon and has carbon atoms arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure known as a diamond lattice. It is less stable than graphite. Graphite is an allotrope of carbon and is primarily used in pencils in place of lead. |