NSCI 1322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Hydrocarbon, Alkane, Trigonal Planar Molecular Geometry
12 Jan 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Because carbon is in group 4a of the periodic table, it has four valence electrons. To fill its octet, it requires four additional electrons, which can be obtained through the formation of four covalent bonds. Carbon forms single, double, and triple bonds to achieve a filled octet. Therefore, the possible bonding combinations for carbon are as follows. Recall from the vsepr model that the molecular geometry around an atom is dictated by the number of regions of electron density. As we have seen, double and triple bonds count as one area of electron density; therefore, carbon can have a tetrahedral, trigonal planar, or linear geometry. A unique feature of carbon is its ability to bond with other carbon atoms to form chains and rings of various lengths. Several other elements have limited ability to form such chains or rings of like atoms, but only carbon does this with more than a few atoms.
