All forms of life on Earth are based on carbon, and although these types of carbon appear very different from graphite, they can easily be converted into its hexagonal structure through burning: wood turns into charcoal when heated; bread becomes burnt toast; we too become black and charred when exposed to a fire. None of these processes produce pure shiny graphite, since the hexagonal layers of carbon are not densely packed but are jumbled up. But there is a vast spectrum of black sooty materials, which all have one thing in common: they contain carbon in its most stable form—hexagonal
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