Carbon Without the element of carbon, life as we know it would not exist. Carbon provides the framework for all tissues of plants and animals. They are built of elements grouped around chains or rings made of carbon atoms. Carbon also provides common fuels--coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas. Sugar, starch, and paper are compounds of carbon with hydrogen and oxygen. Proteins such as hair, meat, and silk contain these and other elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. More than six and a half million compounds of the element carbon, many times more then those of any other element, are known, and more are discovered and synthesized each wee