Talk:Allotrope

Charcoal an allotrope of carbon?

I have never heard of charcoal being called an allotrope of carbon before. According to Wikipedia, it is "the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances". I was under the impression that the carbon in charcoal is an amorphous mix of graphite-like sheets irregularly bonded to each other, with other contaminant elements present, and that its physical properties are more to do with its microstructure rather than its arrangement of carbon atoms. The fullerenes are allotropes of carbon, though, and deserve a mention.

As far as I remember I got charcoal as an example of amorphous carbon from an old textbook of mine. I cannot check it now, because I'm away from home. Maybe coke would be a better example? Fullerenes indeed deserve mentioning. I didn't continue this article because David Volk and I decided that it better be merged with allotrope. However, neither of us came around doing it yet.--Paul Wormer 11:41, 10 March 2008 (CDT)