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Carbon alone forms the familiar substances graphite and diamond. Both graphite and diamond are made only of carbon atoms. Graphite is very soft and slippery. Diamond is the hardest substance known to man. If both are made only of carbon what gives them different properties?

The answer lies in the way the carbon atoms form bonds with each other.

On the other hand, in diamond each carbon atom is the same distance to each of its neighboring carbon atoms. In this rigid network atoms cannot move. This explains why diomands are so hard and have such a high melting point.

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