Question

Full explanation of unique properties of carbon

Answer 1

Answer:

Carbon has an exceptional ability to bind with a wide variety of other elements. Carbon makes four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds, allowing carbon atoms to form multiple stable bonds with other small atoms, including hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

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Answer 2

Answer:

The answer lies with carbon’s unique properties. Carbon has an exceptional ability to bind with a wide variety of other elements. Carbon makes four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds, allowing carbon atoms to form multiple stable bonds with other small atoms, including hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Carbon atoms can also form stable bonds with other carbon atoms. In fact, a carbon atom may form single, double, or even triple bonds with other carbon atoms. This allows carbon atoms to form a tremendous variety of very large and complex molecules.

Organic Compounds

Carbon has the ability to form very long chains of interconnecting C-C bonds. This property allows carbon to form the backbone of organic compounds, carbon-containing compounds, which are the basis of all known organic life. Nearly 10 million carbon-containing organic compounds are known. Types of carbon compounds in organisms include carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. The elements found in each type are listed in the table below. Elements other than carbon and hydrogen usually occur within organic compounds in smaller groups of elements called functional groups. When organic compounds react with other compounds, generally just the functional groups are involved. Therefore, functional groups generally determine the nature and functions of organic compounds.

When combined with oxygen and hydrogen, carbon can form many groups of important biological compounds including carbohydrates (sugars), lignans (important in plants), chitins (the main component of the cell walls of fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods), alcohols, lipids and fats (triglycerides), and carotenoids (plant pigment). With nitrogen it forms alkaloids, and with the addition of sulfur in addition to the nitrogen, it forms amino acids which bind together to form proteins, antibiotics, and rubber products. With the addition of phosphorus to these other elements, carbon forms nucleotides which bond into nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is known as the energy currency of the cell. The properties of all these organic molecules is related to the composition of the elements that compose the molecule. Certain carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids are known as macromolecules, as they are very large polymers made of individual monomers.