Carbon is an element.
Carbon ( from carbo `` coal '' ) is a chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6 . Carbon 's abundance , its unique diversity of organic compounds , and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth enables this element to serve as a common element of all known life . Carbon forms a vast number of compounds , more than any other element , with almost ten million compounds described to date , and yet that number is but a fraction of the number of theoretically possible compounds under standard conditions .