Beyond the wonder material

When nature had to choose an element as the basis for life, it chose carbon. If I had to guess why, I would say the reason was carbon's extraordinary versatility. Bonding between carbon atoms is exceptionally strong; indeed, the strongest materials on Earth are all made of carbon. However, bonding between carbon and other elements, though stable, can easily be changed by chemical reactions. The resulting compounds are often surprisingly different from one another. For example, a pair of carbon atoms bonded together can accept one, two or three hydrogen atoms, forming ethyne, ethene and ethane – chemicals used in welding, anaesthesia and vodka-making, respectively.