Mark T. answered • 03/14/19
Career nuclear engineer, professional instructor, Lightroom expert
Carbon interacts with other element in a useful way. It wants to form 4 bonds, and it's bonds aren't particularly strong. In chemistry the bonds are called covalent bonds. Having four helps it to do two things.
Other elements behave chemically similar (like Silicon) but aren't nearly as good at doing those two things.
Carbon form long stable chains but Silicon does not. Most of what you see around you is long stable carbon chains, called hydrocarbons.
Carbon also can easily make and break bonds with Oxygen. Silicon can not. This allows Carbon to form complex structures. The most famous being proteins, which life is based off.
