NSCI 1322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Diamond Cubic, Catenation, Network Covalent Bonding
12 Jan 2017
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The elements of group 4a show in more striking fashion than the previous groups the normal periodic trend of greater metallic character going down a column. Carbon, the first element in the group, is distinctly nonmetallic. Silicon and germanium are metalloids, or semimetals, although their chemical properties are primarily those of nonmetals. Tin and lead, the last two elements in the group, are metals. In the following subsections, we will look at carbon and silicon. Both elements have many important compounds that exhibit tetrahedral bonding. A(cid:374)other differe(cid:374)(cid:272)e i(cid:374) the (cid:271)o(cid:374)di(cid:374)g (cid:272)hara(cid:272)teristi(cid:272)s of these ele(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts is sili(cid:272)o(cid:374)"s a(cid:271)ility to form compounds exhibiting octahedral bonding, which is not seen with carbon. One of the most important features of the carbon atom is its ability to bond to other carbon atoms to form chains and rings of enormous variety. The covalent bonding of two or more atoms of the same element to one another is referred to as catenation.
