Chemical element · Atomic number 6
Carbon
Carbon in the periodic table: atomic number 6, electron configuration, atomic mass, physical data, oxidation states, media credit and visible sources.
Nonmetal
solid
12.011 u
Documented element sampleDocumented carbon allotropes, including graphite and diamond.
Image credit: James St. John
Auto-oriented, limited to 1600 × 1200 pixels and re-encoded as WebP; the subject was not altered.
Atomic classification
Shell occupancy
Carbon in the Bohr shell model
This shows the electron distribution of the neutral atom in a simplified shell model.
- K · n=1
- 2 electrons
- L · n=2
- 4 electrons
- Electron configuration
- [He]2s2 2p2
- Electrons per shell
- 2 · 4
- Group
- 14
- Period
- 2
- Block
- P
- Element category
- Nonmetal
Physical and chemical properties
- Atomic mass
- 12.011 u
- Standard state
- solid
- Density
- 2.267 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 3,823 K
- Boiling point
- 4,098 K
- Electronegativity
- 2.55 (Pauling)
- First ionisation energy
- 11.26 eV
- Oxidation states
- +4, +2, -4
- Discovery
- known since antiquity
Safety and periodic classification
Safety
Safe handling cannot be inferred from Carbon's position in the periodic table alone. Laboratory, classroom and disposal decisions must follow the documentation for the exact material and its safety data sheet.
Position and comparison
Carbon is in period 2, group 14 and the P block. Its direct neighbours by atomic number are Boron and Nitrogen. The recorded Pauling electronegativity is 2.55. Periodic trends are compared only through the separately sourced neighbouring values.
Sources and scope
PubChem attributes element data to sources including IUPAC, NIST and IAEA. Quanta stores the referenced snapshot locally and leaves unknown values unavailable.
Where Carbon sits among the 118 elements
The table compares the reported values for Carbon with every other element that carries the same value in the snapshot. A rank is not a judgement, it is orientation: it says how unusual this value is across the periodic table.
| Value | Carbon | Position in the data set |
|---|---|---|
| Melting point | 3,823 K | Rank 1 of 103 elements with a reported value. Highest: Carbon. |
| Boiling point | 4,098 K | Rank 16 of 93 elements with a reported value. Highest: Rhenium. |
| Density | 2.267 g/cm³ | Rank 75 of 96 elements with a reported value. Highest: Osmium. |
| Electronegativity (Pauling) | 2.55 | Rank 10 of 95 elements with a reported value. Highest: Fluorine. |
| Ionisation energy | 11.26 eV | Rank 12 of 102 elements with a reported value. Highest: Helium. |
All values and ranks come from the PubChem Periodic Table snapshot, retrieved on 2026-07-15. Elements without a reported value are excluded, so the population differs per row.
The neighbours of Carbon in the periodic table
- Place in the table
- Group 14, period 2, P block. Classified as nonmetal, solid at standard conditions.
- Direct neighbours
- Atomic number 6. Preceded by Boron, followed by Nitrogen.
- Same group
- Same number of outer electrons, and therefore similar reactivity to Silicon, Germanium, Tin, Lead, Flerovium.
- Discovery
- Recorded in the snapshot as: known since antiquity. Who, where and under what circumstances is not part of that record, so this page carries the sourced year and no discovery narrative.
- Oxidation states
- +4, +2, -4. They follow from the electron configuration [He]2s2 2p2 and indicate which compounds to expect.
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