Robert Hazen - Symphony in C

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF WilliamCollinsBooks.com

This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019

Copyright © Robert M. Hazen 2019

Images © Individual copyright holders

Cover design © Jo Walker

Robert M. Hazen asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008292386

eBook Edition © June 2019 ISBN: 9780008292409

Version: 2019-06-01

For my friends and colleagues of the Deep Carbon Observatory

The adventure has only just begun.

COVER

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

DEDICATION For my friends and colleagues of the Deep Carbon Observatory The adventure has only just begun.

PROLOGUE

SILENCE

MOVEMENT I—EARTH: Carbon, the Element of Crystals

Prelude—Before Earth

Exposition—Earth Emerges and Evolves

Development—Deep Earth Carbon

Recapitulation—Carbon Worlds

Coda—Unanswered Questions

MOVEMENT II—AIR: Carbon, the Element of Cycles

Introduction—Before Air

Arioso—The Origin of Earth’s Atmosphere

Intermezzo—The Deep Carbon Cycle

Arioso, da Capo—Atmospheric Change

Coda—The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable

MOVEMENT III—FIRE: Carbon, the Element of Stuff

Introduction—Material World

Scherzo—Useful Stuff

Trio—Nano Stuff

Scherzo, da Capo—Stories

Coda—Music

MOVEMENT IV—WATER: Carbon, the Element of Life

Introduction—The Primeval Earth

Exposition—Origins of Life

Development—Life Evolving (Theme and Variations)

Recapitulation—The Human Carbon Cycle

Finale—Earth, Air, Fire, and Water

PICTURE SECTION

NOTES

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE BOOK

ALSO BY ROBER T M. HAZEN

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

LOOK AROUND YOU. Carbon is everywhere: in the paper of this book, the ink on its pages, and the glue that binds it; in the soles and leather of your shoes, the synthetic fibers and colorful dyes of your clothes, and the Teflon zippers and Velcro strips that fasten them; in every bite of food you eat, in beer and booze, in fizzy water and sparkling wine; in the carpets on your floors, the paint on your walls, and the tiles on your ceilings; in fuels from natural gas to gasoline to candle wax; in sturdy wood and polished marble; in every adhesive and every lubricant; in the lead of pencils and the diamond of rings; in aspirin and nicotine, codeine and caffeine, and every other drug you’ve ever taken; in every plastic, from grocery bags to bicycle helmets, cheap furniture to designer sunglasses. From your first baby clothes to your silk-lined coffin, carbon atoms surround you.

Carbon is the giver of life: Your skin and hair, blood and bone, muscle and sinews all depend on carbon. Every cell in your body—indeed, every part of every cell—relies on a sturdy backbone of carbon. The carbon of a mother’s milk becomes the carbon of her child’s beating heart. Carbon is the chemical essence of your lover’s eyes, hands, lips, and brain. When you breathe, you exhale carbon; when you kiss, carbon atoms embrace.

It would be easier for you to list everything you touch that lacks carbon—aluminum cans in your fridge, silicon microchips in your iPhone, gold fillings in your teeth, other oddities—than to enumerate even 10 percent of the carbon-bearing objects in your life. We live on a carbon planet and we are carbon life.

Every chemical element is special, but some elements are more special than others. Of all the periodic table’s richly varied denizens, the sixth element is unique in its impact on our lives. Carbon is not simply the static element of “stuff.” Carbon provides the most critical chemical link across the vastness of space and time—the key to understanding cosmic evolution. Over the course of almost 14 billion years, the Universe has evolved and become ever more richly patterned, with seemingly endless fascinating and quirky behaviors. Carbon lies at the heart of this evolution—choreographing the emergence of planets, life, and us. And, more than any other ingredient, carbon has facilitated the rapid emergence of new technologies, from steam engines of the Industrial Revolution to our modern “Plastic Age,” even as it accelerates unprecedented changes in environment and climate on a planetary scale.

Why focus on carbon? Hydrogen is a far more abundant chemical element, helium more stable, and oxygen more reactive. Iron, sulfur, phosphorus, sodium, calcium, nitrogen—all have fascinating stories to tell. All played critical roles in Earth’s complex evolution. But if you wish to find meaning and purpose in the vast cold and dark of the Universe, look to carbon; carbon, by itself and in chemical combinations with other atoms, provides unmatched cosmic novelty and unparalleled potential for cosmic evolution.