17 The Rise of Two Civilizations

Carbon and Arsenic

Montserrat Andrade Avalos; Catherine Bahena-Flores; Jenny Mejia; Elizabeth Orellana; Daisey K. Velez; and Kiara Hernandez (illustrator)

The Aztecs were a Native American civilization who ruled northern Mexico. They settled in a city in which they founded, called Tenochtitlán. Arney a young Aztec boy soon to be crowned king by his people was a descendant of a powerful family who possessed the power of arsenic.

Arney needed to complete tasks to finally be pronounced king in his kingdom. One of his most important tasks was to go on a lookout for the Mayan civilization to build his army. The Mayans were an ancient civilization ruling Mesoamerica. In order for Arney to find the Mayans, he went through all three of the states Tlacopan, Tetzcoco, Tenochtitlan, and finally Central America to find the Mayans and take them back to his land. The superhero, K’inich Janaab Pakal, whom we know today as Pakal the Great was their leader. Both the Mayans and Aztecs came to a temporarily alliance to defeat their biggest enemy, The Spaniards. Pakal the Great possessed the power of carbon to be used in everyday life. Their enemy, the Spaniards, were in conflict to possess this powerful element and gradually incorporate the territory of the Mayans.

Carbon was used by The Mayans to create artifacts that would be used in their everyday life. One of the main artifacts created were the Mayan books. The books were written with a special type of ink made from water, thickened with clay, and carbon-black from soot. Since this element was so powerful, the Spaniards were trying to get a hold of this potent element in the hopes to recreate the artifact made by the Mayans.

Spanish explorers have been looking for this element for years and were figuring out a way to possess it. They have been anticipating that finding enormous wealth would be in the Mayan and Aztec cities, as well as this element.

The Spanish were preparing for war against the Mayas and Aztecs as well as owning their territory and become the greatest empire. Pakal the Great and Arney had an idea to transform their army into superhuman shapeshifters to defeat the Spanish conquistadors. They adapted and learned to change the shape of their people and form by combining a non-metal with a metal called Vibranium. This metal is an energy-manipulating causing it to conduct electricity very well against the Spanish. This metal will transform the Mayan army to heat themselves up at 4827 degrees Celsius and melt at 3652 degrees Celsius becoming a silvery liquid. With enough force, the power of the liquid Vibranium can be used to shoot out chunks to smash it and explode as a weapon. The Aztecs were made of arsenic which is a metalloid that made them start changing colors. From a silver color to a bronze, they used this power possessed in them as a chemical warfare agent to act as a poison. The Aztec people combined the metal copper and metalloid arsenic to transform their arms into swords.

For the Mayas and Aztecs to become more powerful, their superpower of Carbon and Arsenic needs to become more reactive by producing more valence electrons for more energy. Pakal the Great and Arney became two leaders with great minds, making them the strongest to create an army with these superpowers in order to protect their people. Pakal the Great and Arney set themselves to become the Greatest Army in Mesoamerica by creating the most powerful alliance in history.

 

 

 

 

Fun facts

The “lead” in your pencil is actually graphite which is a form of carbon!

Diamonds are made of carbon atoms!

Arsenic is a poison!

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The Rise of Two Civilizations Copyright © 2023 by Montserrat Andrade Avalos; Catherine Bahena-Flores; Jenny Mejia; Elizabeth Orellana; Daisey K. Velez; and Kiara Hernandez (illustrator) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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