Is Carbon a Metal, Nonmetal or Metalloid?
Carbon (C) is a nonmetal — a nonmetal: a poor conductor, hungry for electrons, forming molecules or covalent networks rather than metallic crystals. It sits in group 14, period 2, and is a solid at room temperature.
Looking for Carbon's metal or nonmetal without wading through a whole chapter? Here is the direct answer first, then the tables and derivations examiners want to see. Every number on this page comes from the same engine that powers the interactive table. Need the whole picture instead — history, characteristics, uses, exam questions? The full Carbon page is one click away.
The one-line answer, with reasons
Carbon is a nonmetal. Chemists decide by behaviour, not appearance: metals (unlike Carbon) give up electrons, shine when freshly cut, and conduct heat and electricity; nonmetals take or share electrons and (as solids) break rather than bend. Carbon follows the nonmetal playbook — placed in the nonmetal family of the table.
Carbon's metal/nonmetal report card
| Property | Value | Typical of |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Nonmetal | — |
| Phase at room temp | solid | varies |
| Block | p-block | — |
| Group | 14 | — |
| Period | 2 | — |
The family it belongs to
The whole nonmetal family shares one seating area of the table, and every member's family ID card is one click away — compare Carbon with its upstairs or downstairs neighbour and the family pattern jumps out.
Students also ask
Is Carbon a good conductor of electricity?
No — Carbon is a nonmetal and does not conduct the way metals do.
Can a gas be a nonmetal — like Carbon?
Yes — being a metal or nonmetal is about bonding and electron behaviour, not state. At room temperature Carbon is a solid, and that says nothing against its nonmetallic character.