How much chemistory are you
his can be seen with the element carbon. Carbon naturally exists as graphite and diamond. The enthalpy difference between graphite and diamond is too large for both to have a standard enthalpy of formation of zero. To determine which form is zero we choose the reference form of the more stable form of carbon. Which is also the one with the lowest enthalpy, so this is why graphite has the standard enthalpy of formation equal to zero.
All values are in the units of kJ/mol and the physical conditions of 298.15 K and under 1 atm of pressure, which is referred to as the "standard state", and are the conditions in which you will generally find values of standard enthalpies of formation. Note that while the majority of the values of standard enthalpies of formation are exothermic, or negative, there are a few compounds such as NO(g) and N2O4(g) that actually require energy from its surroundings during its formation; these endothermic compounds are generally unstable.