What chemical compound of 1 carbon and 4 hydrogen atoms is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas?
Alkane Alkane In organic chemistry, an alkane, or paraffin (a historical name that also has other meanings), is an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon. In other words, an alkane consists of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a tree structure in which all the carbon–carbon bonds are single. Alkanes have the general chemical formula CH. The alkanes range in complexity from the simplest case of methane (CH), where "n" = 1 (sometimes called the parent molecule), to arbitrarily large and complex molecules, like pentacontane (CH) or 6-ethyl-2-methyl-5-(1-methylethyl)octane, an isomer of tetradecane (CH) IUPAC defines alkanes as "acyclic branched or unbranched hydrocarbons having the
Alkane general formula , and therefore consisting entirely of hydrogen atoms and saturated carbon atoms". However, some sources use the term to denote "any" saturated hydrocarbon, including those that are either monocyclic (i.e. the cycloalkanes) or polycyclic, despite their having a different general formula (i.e. cycloalkanes are CH). In an alkane, each carbon atom is sp-hybridized with 4 sigma bonds (either C–C or C–H), and each hydrogen atom is joined to one of the carbon atoms (in a C–H bond). The longest series of linked carbon atoms in a molecule is known as its carbon skeleton or carbon backbone. The number