Carbon/Legends

"Carbon is used to create duraplast, which we use for building."

- Qui-Gon Jinn

Carbon (C) was a nonmetallic element. It was the primary element in most of the sentient life of the galaxy, including Humans and most humanoid races. Carbon was used in the manufacture of such substances as duraplast and durasteel, carbonite, and carbon dioxide. It could be found in naturally occurring crystal form as diamonds. It was also found in wood and tibanna.

Carbon atoms bonded with many other elements, and were able to form long molecular chains and rings - the backbones of organic molecules. The only possible rival for the role of carbon in biology was silicon, which shared some of the same properties found in carbon. However, silicon could only bond with two other atoms, whereas carbon could bond with up to four other atoms at once. Therefore, silicon-based lifeforms were extremely rare.

In order to manufacture building-grade duraplast, carbon had to be extracted using droid or organinc workers, mostly from trees, such as oak trees or barren trees, and other local resources, including carbon rocks. The mined carbon could then be dropped off for processing at Command Centers and carbon processing centers. This could be accomplished by logging and extracting carbon from timber, or by mining coal or carbon-heavy rocks.

Except trees, also most lifeforms in the galaxy were carbon-based, with a few notable exceptions, such as the crystalline Tsil of Nam Chorios and several silicon-based species. According to a droid, all sentient carbon-based lifeforms could drink water.

Carbon residue or scoring was also left behind when an object was struck by a blaster bolt.

Behind the scenes
In the real world, carbon is the element essential to life.

In the Star Wars universe, it was used as a bountiful resource for creating troops and vehicles in the 2001 video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and its 2002 expansion pack Clone Campaigns.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
 * MedStar II: Jedi Healer
 * Death Star
 * Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Emissary of the Void
 * The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Living Force Campaign Guide
 * Millennium Falcon
 * Millennium Falcon