- Carbon atoms can form various structures and create different fuels and substances like methane, ethanol, and sugars.
- Carbon atoms have strong bonds with other atoms, which helps hold creatures together even after they die.
- Fossil fuels like oil and coal come from dead organisms with carbon atoms still tightly locked together, containing energy.
- The video discusses how to extract the energy from these carbon bonds in the next episode.

NPR's Robert Krulwich and Odd Todd, in partnership with Wild Chronicles, present an animated cartoon series on the atom at the heart of global warming: carbon.  Episode 2:  Carbon's special knack for bonding.

All alone, there's not much a carbon atom can do.

But the instant carbon grabs onto other atoms, carbons, hydrogens, oxygens, then...

The point here is there's almost no limit to the kinds of structures that carbon can form.

But the thing to remember is that when a carbon atom grabs onto another carbon atom, it does so with considerable force.

That energy helps hold creatures together.

In fact, carbon grips with so much energy that even when the creature dies, like this.

Inside the dead animal, you will still find, after it's dead, carbon atoms locked tightly, closely together.

And that explains why some fuels are called fossil fuels, because they come from dead things that died a long, long time ago.

Though the carbon atoms inside those things are still locked, fiercely gripped inside, so there is energy in there.

A long, long time ago, in a part of the world we now call the Middle East, there was once a sea, and in that sea there were little creatures called zooplankton, kind of like jellyfish.

And they'd swim around all day long, filled with carbon atoms, ripped inside, and then, of course, they died.

Over millions of years, a lot of them died, because that's what living things do.

So all their corpses, lots and lots of corpses, sank to the bottom of the sea, where under pressure they gradually squeezed themselves into a mush, a mush still filled with carbon atoms, still fiercely gripped together, that we call...

So oil, then, is ancient life that is liquefied, and coal is just ancient life in a rock.

And in both cases, the carbon bonds are in there, tightly gripped, so there's energy inside.

Now the question is, if the energy's in there, how do you get it out?

Well, if you can make a bond, you can break a bond, which we will do in our next episode.


Speaker 0: All alone, there's not much a carbon atom can do. But the instant carbon grabs onto other atoms, carbons, hydrogens, oxygens, then...

Speaker 1: I'm a fuel!

Speaker 0: That's methane!

Speaker 1: Uh-huh. Now watch this.

Speaker 0: This is ethanol.

Speaker 1: Uh-huh. Another fuel. And check out this 1. Now we're a sugar.

Speaker 0: You're a fructose, aren't you? Can I see glucose? No, thank you.

Speaker 1: What about sucrose?

Speaker 0: No, no,

Speaker 1: thank you. What about French toast?

Speaker 0: No, thank you. The point here is there's almost no limit to the kinds of structures that carbon can form. But the thing to remember is that when a carbon atom grabs onto another carbon atom, it does so with considerable force. Atoms make tight energetic connections. That energy helps hold creatures together.

In fact, carbon grips with so much energy that even when the creature dies, like this. Inside the dead animal, you will still find, after it's dead, carbon atoms locked tightly, closely together. Carbon! And that explains why some fuels are called fossil fuels, because they come from dead things that died a long, long time ago. Though the carbon atoms inside those things are still locked, fiercely gripped inside, so there is energy in there.

In fact, let me tell you a story. A long, long time ago, in a part of the world we now call the Middle East, there was once a sea, and in that sea there were little creatures called zooplankton, kind of like jellyfish. And they'd swim around all day long, filled with carbon atoms, ripped inside, and then, of course, they died. Over millions of years, a lot of them died, because that's what living things do.

Speaker 1: They want

Speaker 0: to Die! So all their corpses, lots and lots of corpses, sank to the bottom of the sea, where under pressure they gradually squeezed themselves into a mush, a mush still filled with carbon atoms, still fiercely gripped together, that we call... Oil. So oil, then, is ancient life that is liquefied, and coal is just ancient life in a rock. And in both cases, the carbon bonds are in there, tightly gripped, so there's energy inside.

Now the question is, if the energy's in there, how do you get it out? Well, if you can make a bond, you can break a bond, which we will do in our next episode.

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Episode 2: Global Warming, It's All About Carbon | Krulwich Wonders | NPR