Solved cryptogram
Carbon forms four bonds at once, which is why it can build chains long enough to carry life.
Chemistry Facts, sourced to Royal Society of Chemistry.
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What it means
Four is the useful number. An element with two bonds can only make a chain, and one with six is too crowded to be flexible. Carbon can link to three other carbons and still have a bond left over for something else, which allows rings, branches and backbones of arbitrary length. That is why the chemistry of living things is carbon chemistry rather than anything else.
The claim comes from Royal Society of Chemistry.
- SourceRoyal Society of Chemistry
- CollectionChemistry Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length73 letters, 19 unique
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