alkanes alkenes etc. (1 Viewer)

[ronaldinho]

why is carbon atoms joing with hydrogen and carbon.. y doesnt the carbon atom just share all of its its electrons with another carbon atom?

 

[airie]

o.0

It does. Pure carbon forms a macromolecular structure with carbon atoms in huge network lattices. For example, carbon as graphite is in 2D "sheets" of carbon atoms bonded to each other (thus graphite is used as a lubricant, as the sheets can easily slice over one another), carbon as diamond forms a 3D structure like interlinked little "balls", carbon as fullerene (C₆₀) has a soccer ball structure with atoms forming hexagons and pentagons joined in 3D, C₇₀ is similar but is more ellipse-looking...

 

[ronaldinho]

s why does it form alkanes and alkenes?

 

[airie]

Because it is more energetically economic in doing so ie. it has more of a tendency to bond with hydrogen than with other carbon atoms.

Basically, if bond A is easier to make than bond B, bond A will occur.

 

[muttiah]

y does it combine with so many different elements if its just easier to form alkanes and alkese.

 

[airie]

The fact that it can form hydrocarbons doesn't mean that's the only thing it can make.

There are so many carbon compounds due to a few factors:
- it has four valence electrons, thus it can donate OR accept up to four electrons, usually the maximum for all atoms (exclude the "unusual" conditions, like when you forcefully take away more than four from an atom that would normally accept electrons or something...);
- and following from above, carbon can form single, double, or triple bonds (as you can see in hydrocarbons);
- out of all atoms in Group 4 (those with 4 valence electrons) of the periodic table, carbon has the least atomic mass (with an electron configuration of 2,4) and thus form bonds more readily than say, Silicon;
- it is not particularly selective about which atoms it bond with.