Carbon

:Alternative meaning: Carbon (API)

Organic compounds

The most prominent oxide of carbon is carbon dioxide, CO2. This is a minor component of the Earth's atmosphere, produced and used by living things, and a common volatile elsewhere. In water it forms trace amounts of carbonic acid, H2CO3, but as most compounds with multiple single-bonded oxygens on a single carbon it is unstable. Through this intermediate, though, resonance-stabilized carbonate ions are produced. Some important minerals are carbonates, notably calcite. Carbon disulfide, CS2, is similar.

Related Topics:
Carbon dioxide - Earth's atmosphere - Water - Carbonic acid - Carbonate - Ion - Calcite - Carbon disulfide

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The other oxides are carbon monoxide, CO, and the uncommon carbon suboxide, C3O2. Carbon monoxide is formed by incomplete combustion, and is a colorless, odorless gas. The molecules each contain a triple bond and are fairly polar, resulting in a tendency to bind permanently to hemoglobin molecules, so that the gas is highly poisonous. Cyanide, CN-, has a similar structure and behaves a lot like a halide ion; the nitride cyanogen, (CN)2, is related.

Related Topics:
Carbon monoxide - Polar - Hemoglobin - Cyanide - Halide - Cyanogen

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With strong metals carbon forms either carbides, C-, or acetylides, C22-; these are associated with methane and acetylene, both very weak acids. All in all, with an electronegativity of 2.5, carbon prefers to form covalent bonds. A few carbides are covalent lattices, like carborundum, SiC, which resembles diamond.

Related Topics:
Metal - Methane - Acetylene - Acid - Covalent bond - Carborundum - Diamond

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Carbon chains

Carbon has the ability to form long chains with interconnecting C-C bonds. This property is called Catenation. Carbon-Carbon bonds are quite strong. This ability is important as it allows carbon to form large numbers of compounds.

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Hydrocarbons are composed of a chain of carbon atoms, saturated by hydrogen atoms. Volatile oils have shorter chains; fats have longer chain lengths; waxes have extremely long chains.

Related Topics:
Oil - Fat - Wax

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