And why arent some others?
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Carbon is capable of creating a huge number of different kinds of chemical compounds and bonds with other atoms, and this kind of versatility makes it an integral part of basically every process in life on Earth. It can form strong bonds to make it part of things like DNA and proteins that make up life. Because of this the study of chemistry involving carbon is called “organic chemistry”.
All life on Earth is not only carbon-based, but also related to each other and have a common ancestor.
> And why arent some others?
There is no known form of life which isn’t carbon-based. However there doesn’t seem to be any reason why life *couldn’t* happen without carbon, so maybe there is alien life somewhere out there which isn’t carbon-based. But we don’t have any evidence that it exists.
Carbon is fairly unique in that it has the ability to bond with up to four other atoms, and can bond _with itself_ while still leaving an opportunity for other bonds.
This means that carbon can form long chains of molecules – something that almost no other atom is capable of doing. Those long chains are the basis for the proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, etc. that are critical elements of all life as we know it. Carbon can basically form the scaffolding for molecules, and that is as unique as it is critical.
There are other atoms that can form bonds like this – silicon is a good example – so we _theorize_ that silicon-based life _might_ be possible. The problem is that silicon is significantly larger than carbon, and the size of the silicon atom interferes with the creation of those chains. Silicon is also fairly inert at the temperatures we typically see life, so it might only exist in very high temperatures.
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