What is the letter "C" for the element carbon?
1 Answer
Jan 27, 2017
Not much to say other than it's the chemical symbol for carbon. It's from the latin, carbo, meaning coal. It's just a convenient way of denoting carbon atoms in a chemical compound or molecule.
#"CH"_4# conveys the structure of methane, without having to explain what "methane" means.#"CH"_3"CH"_2"OH"# conveys the structure of this two-carbon alcohol, instead of requiring one to explain what "ethanol" means.
Similarly,
