How many bonds can Carbon form? Why is this important? | Socratic
Well, carbon can form up to FOUR covalent bonds...........
Well, carbon can form up to FOUR covalent bonds....... with hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and other heteroatoms. Carbon can also #"catenate"#; i.e. form long #C-C# chains, with differing substitution along that chain. The result is that carbon chemistry can support long-chain, complicated molecules that can function biologically.
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Carbon has valency 4 so, it can form 4 bonds.
Basically, the valency of any element gives you the exact idea about the no. of bonds that particular element can form . Now, the question is why the bond formation is so important ? The answer to that is the satisfaction of valency of the atom of the element so that it can achieve a stable electronic configuration .
I can explain this to you even more with the help of a daily life example but please don't use this in any exam or any assignment. Say Alisha do not have any friends, because of the lack of friends she is unhappy or you can say in an unstable state. To become happy in life she joins a dance class where she interacts with more people and gets to know more about them. As time passes by there is a bond of common interest which is formed between her and her new friends which leads Alisha to a happy state of mind or we can say she has achieved her stability.
In this very similar manner atoms of elements also like to achieve their stability and they do this by linking themselves with either themselves or with atoms of other elements. This linking is called bond formation. The valency of an element tells us how much atoms do the atom of that particular element needs to achieve a stable electronic configuration So, here since carbon has a valency of 4 it can form bonds either with 4 other carbon atoms (like in 2,2- dimethyl propane) or 4 atoms of any other element (like in carbon tetrachloride).