Carbon and its Compounds

Two or more elements combine to form compound. There are two types of compounds- Organic Compound and Inorganic Compounds. Organic compounds are the one which are made up of carbon and hydrogen.

Covalent Bond

The bond formed by sharing a pair of electrons between two atoms are known as Covalent Bond. Carbon forms covalent bond. Carbon exists in two forms- as free state and as combined state. Free form of carbon is found in graphite, diamond and fullerene. In combined state, carbon exists as Carbon-dioxide, Glucose, Sugar etc.

Allotropes of Carbon

Different forms of an element that has same chemical properties but different physical properties are known as Allotropes. There are three allotropes of carbon- diamond, graphite and fullerene.

Diamond

Diamond exits as three-dimensional network with strong carbon-carbon covalent bonds. Diamond is hard in nature with high melting point. It shines in presence of light and it is a bad conductor of electricity. The most common use of diamond is in making jewellery. It is also used in cutting and drilling tools.

Graphite

Graphite is made from weak van der wall forces. Each carbon atom is bonded with other three carbon atoms in order to form hexagonal rings. It serves as good conductor of heat and electricity. It is used as dry lubricant for machine parts as well as it is used in lead pencils.

Fullerene

It is a hollow cage which exits in the form of sphere. Its structure is similar to fullerene. But along with hexagonal rings, sometimes pentagonal or heptagonal rings are also present.

Structure of fullerene

Two Important Properties of Carbon

Catenation and tetravalency are the two important properties of carbon. Catenation is a property of carbon by which carbon atoms can link one another via covalent bond and can form long chains, closed ring or branched chains etc. Carbon atoms can be linked by single, double or triple bonds. Carbon has a valency of 4 due to which it is known to have tetravalency. Due to this one carbon atom can bond with other 4 carbon atoms, with other atoms also such as Oxygen, Nitrogen etc.

Hydrocarbons

Compounds which are made up of carbon and hydrogen they are known as Hydrocarbons. There are two types of hydrocarbons found - Saturated Hydrocarbons and Unsaturated Hydrocarbons. Saturated Hydrocarbons consist of single bonds between the carbon atoms. For Example, Alkanes. Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons represented by a formula, CnH2n+2

.Unsaturated Hydrocarbons are the one with double or triple bonds between the carbon atoms. For Example, Alkenes and Alkynes. Alkenes are represented as CnH2n whereas alkynes are represented as CnH2n-2.