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mafiaknight t1_j2bvz96 wrote

Because all the things that we’ve ever found alive and all the corpses we’ve ever found were carbon based. I’d think it would be a bit self explanatory. We have yet to find anything that ever lived that was based on any other element. It is one of the 5 most abundant elements in the universe after all.

You ARE made of carbon. Humans are almost completely water and carbon

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Throwawaycuzawkward t1_j2bzhea wrote

"For all i know i am not made of carbon"

If this is your argument: "I can't see it, so how do I know if it's true?" then modern science might not be for you.

If you'd actually like to know: there is a reason; it has to do with the commonality of certain atoms in the universe, but almost more to do with their valence electrons.

Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen bond very easily with each other into long polymers, that have unique properties, because they easily share electron and they are very common. These polymers - some of them - form the foundations of life as we so far know it. Though there is an easy argument for Silicon based life, for the same reasons.

I'D LIKE TO EDIT MY STATEMENT, because it was originally arrogant, but I'll leave the original arrogance: If this is your argument: "I can't see it, so how do I know if it's true?" then modern science MIGHT ACTUALLY be for you.

You should question things. THAT is modern science. Modern science, as it happens, has already been down the rabbit hole of "what are we made of?" and Carbon most definitely lies at it's center.

I'm glad you're asking questions, and I apologize for my initial reaction.

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Responsible-Big-2644 OP t1_j2c2ojo wrote

So fundamentally carbon is the "glue" that bond everything in our body am i correct ? THANKS FOR THE EDIT i was thinking that my question was stupid

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Throwawaycuzawkward t1_j2c3hqo wrote

It wasn't a stupid question, my response was. And yes: Carbon is central to the chemical bonds that make up everything meaningful in your body: proteins that help repair wounds and your farts. Literally everything.

There's a specific kind of Chemistry, you can get a very expensive degree in it that those that have it generally call: O-Chem, Organic Chemistry, and it is specifically about the chemicals and chemical reactions made up by Carbon, essentially.

Like I said, Science has been down that rabbit hole, for about 90 years in fact. I know you can't see it with your eyes, but we can see it with chemical reactions, and Electron Spectrometry, and a bunch of other stuff.

There's several robots on mars currently that are looking for - and have found - chemical signatures of life there, all of them based around carbon-bonded compounds.

I would encourage you to go look into basic chemistry - not because you're basic, but because you are obviously curious, and a little understanding of how atoms are made up will make it clear to you, I think, why Carbon is, in fact "the glue" in the organic chemistry of life.

Best of luck, friend.

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mb34i t1_j2bz1he wrote

Here's the chemical formula of fat.

The planet's gravity holds the soil, water, and air around the planet so nothing "drains out" into space. So everything gets recycled.

You've heard of plants photosynthesis? That's this reaction, carbon dioxide + water -> sugar + oxygen (released). The plant then chains the sugar together into cellulose which forms the body of the plant.

Animals eat plants and they digest the cellulose back to the individual sugars. Then they breathe in oxygen, and do the reaction in reverse: oxygen + sugar -> water + carbon dioxide + energy. The animal then pees the water and exhales the carbon dioxide.

So water (hydrogen and oxygen) and carbon dioxide (carbon and oxygen) get recycled around and around the Earth, for billions of years, between plants and animals and plants again and animals again.

Your body is made mostly of long chains of carbon + hydrogen and some oxygen here and there, like that fat linked above.

The term "carbon-based" is used as a contrast to "silicon-based". Carbon has this property of being able to link to itself in arbitrarily long chains, and thus form complex organic molecules. The (only) other element that can do this is silicon. Here's an article that discusses silicon-based life.

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Responsible-Big-2644 OP t1_j2bzh1v wrote

This might be the answer i was looking for

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mb34i t1_j2c08tt wrote

It's kinda weird because you think of carbon as a lump of coal, but the reality is that the ("outside") look and properties of a material depend on the molecules it's made of AND on how they are arranged / linked together. A ruby is aluminium rust. So you can arrange carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and get all sorts of materials: flour, sugar, wood, amber, ivory, fat, cellophane, gasoline, vodka, and so on.

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Exhausted_Monkey26 t1_j2bvjvv wrote

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe, and is present in all life forms. So, you are in part made of carbon. It is the main component of DNA, for example.

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I4Vhagar t1_j2bx77i wrote

DNA has a carbon backbone!? Next you’re going to claim the Earth isn’t flat

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explainlikeimfive-ModTeam t1_j2bzqd1 wrote

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