What is Catenation | Versatile nature of Carbon | Tetravalency | Lecture 5 |Carbon and its compounds

In this fully animated lecture you will learn about a unique property of Carbon. that is Catenation.

Versatile nature of carbon:-
The word versatile nature means, the ability of an element to form various types of compounds.
There are a total of 118 elements known today. The number of carbon compounds, is more than ten million. This number of various Carbon Compounds is, far more than the number of compounds. of all the remaining elements, taken together. So Carbon is the, most versatile element.

The two characteristic features are seen in carbon,
catenation and Tetravalency.
that makes carbon
the most versatile element.

what is catenation?
The words catenation, reflect the Latin root catena, that means "chain".
The ability of carbon atoms, to link with other carbon atoms, to form long chains and large rings, is called catenation.
For Example, in n butane there are 4 carbon atoms, linked with each other to form a straight chain.
The same number of carbon atoms, link to form a ring structure, that is known as Cyclobutane.
So, both compounds exhibit catenation.

Is catenation only exhibited by carbon?

Not only carbon, many other elements also exhibit the property of catenation. Like Nitrogen, Silicone and Sulphur.
But the catenation shown by these elements, is much weaker than Carbon.

Why does Carbon have an extraordinary ability to exhibit Catenation?

The extraordinary ability is, because of tetravalency. Tetra means 4 , and valency is the combining ability, of an element to make bonds.

how carbon makes 4 bonds.
when carbon bonds with four other atoms, like hydrogen in methane. each hydrogen atom shares one electron with carbon, and carbon shares one electron with each hydrogen atom. This sharing of electrons, completes the valence shell, of both carbon and hydrogen, resulting in a stable molecule.
Carbon atoms can make 4 bonds . That's why, carbon is a tetravalent element.
This property enables, carbon atoms to make bonds with each other, to form chains and rings.

For more please visit complete lecture.

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