The amount of carbon present in the earth’s crust and the atmosphere is very small, and in spite of this small quantity of availability of carbon in nature, this element has immense importance in every sphere of life. All living things, plants, and animals are made of carbon-based compounds called organic compounds. It is the versatile nature of Carbon that makes it one of the most components on the earth.

Carbon is the main element in organic compounds, so carbon is essential to life on Earth. Without carbon, life as we know it could not exist. In this article, we will study the properties of carbon that makes it so versatile.

Versatile Nature of Carbon

The number of carbon compounds known today is approximately three million, and this number far exceeds the total number of compounds formed by other elements. It is the nature of the covalent bond that enables carbon to form a large number of compounds. The four main characteristic properties of a carbon atom that lead to the formation of a very large number of compounds are discussed as follows-

Tetra-valency of carbon

Carbon has an atomic number 6. Two electrons are in the completely filled inner orbital, while four electrons are in the outermost shell. Therefore, carbon has a valency of four. And thus it is capable of bonding four other atoms of carbon or atoms of some other monovalent elements.

Further, due to its small size, the nucleus of the carbon atom can hold its shared pairs of electrons strongly. As a result, the bonds that carbon forms with most of the other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, chlorine, etc., are very strong thereby, making these compounds exceptionally stable. This further increases the number of carbon compounds.

Learn Uses of Carbon

Catenation

Carbon atoms possess a unique property to link together (self-linking) to form very long chains. This property is referred to as catenation.

The property of self linking of carbon atoms through covalent bonds in order to form long straight or branched chains and rings of different sizes is called catenation.

The property of catenation is due to-

i. Small size
ii. Unique electronic configuration
iii. A great strength of carbon-carbon bonds

No other element exhibits the property of catenation to the extent seen in the carbon atoms. Silicon forms compounds with hydrogen with chains of upto seven or eight atoms, but these compounds are very reactive. The carbon-carbon bond is very strong and hence, stable. This gives a large number of compounds with many carbon atoms linked to each other.

Formation of straight, branched, and cyclic chains of carbon atoms:

The combination of carbon atoms with one another gives rise to straight or branched, or cyclic chains.

The carbon-carbon chain can be very long. Organic molecules containing as many as seventy carbon atoms join together, one after the other, are known to exist.

Tendency to form Multiple Bonds

Due to its tetravalency, carbon can also form single, double, and triple covalent bonds by sharing one, two, or three pairs of electrons respectively between two carbon atoms as well as with other atoms like oxygen, nitrogen, etc.

This multiplicity of carbon-carbon, carbon-oxygen, and carbon-nitrogen bonds further increase the number of carbon compounds.

Isomerism

Another important reason for the huge number of carbon compounds is the phenomenon of isomerism. Isomerism may be defined as follows:

If a given molecular formula represents two or more structures having different properties, the phenomenon is called isomerism, and the different structures are called isomers.

For example,

Summary

In this article, we studied the unique nature of the carbon atom- catenation and tetravalency give rise to the formation of many compounds. Now we know the reasons for carbon to form long-chain and form multiple bonds with other elements as well as with carbon. We also studied the two more properties like isomerism and the tendency to form multiple bonds.

FAQs on Versatile Nature of Carbon

Q.1. What do you mean by the versatile nature of carbon?
Ans: The versatile nature of carbon is due to the presence of a covalent bond that enables it to form a large number of compounds. There are four main characteristics that enable the versatile nature of carbon which are as follows-
a. Tetravalency
b. Catenation
c. Tendency to form multiple bonds
d. Isomerism

Q.2. How is the tetravalency of carbon responsible for its versatile nature?
Ans: Carbon has an atomic number \(6.\) Two electrons are present in the completely filled inner orbital, while four electrons are in the outermost shell. Therefore, carbon has a valency of four. Consequently, it is capable of bonding four other atoms of carbon or atoms of some other monovalent elements. Further, due to its small size, the nucleus of the carbon atom can hold its shared pairs of electrons strongly. As a result, the bonds that carbon forms with most of the other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, chlorine, etc., are very strong thereby, making these compounds exceptionally stable.

Q.3. Define catenation?
Ans: The property of self linking of carbon atoms through covalent bonds in order to form long straight or branched chains and rings of different sizes is called catenation.

Q.4. What are the four unique properties of carbon?
Ans: The four unique properties of carbon that makes it versatile in nature are as follows-
a. Tetravalency
b. Catenation
c. Tendency to form multiple bonds
d. Isomerism

Q.5. How does Tetravalency help Carbon?
Ans: Carbon’s tetravalency permits it to generate valuable and useful compounds like diamond and graphite. It may make bonds with four additional atoms because of its valency of four. Carbon may create compounds with oxygen, hydrogen, sulphur, chlorine, and a variety of other elements because of this property.

We hope this detailed article on the versatile nature of carbon will be helpful in your preparation. If you have any queries related to the article or, in general, about the versatile nature of carbon, please ping us through the comments section, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.