Question

Name an element other than carbon which exhibits the property of catenation upto 7 or 8 atoms?Are these compounds stable

Answer 1

Silicon shows more catenation as it has 4 electrons in its outermost shell.This makes both donating and receiving electrons between elements difficult due to high ionisation enthalpies and electron gain enthalpies required to remove or accept electrons.Hence,it develops a tendency to share electrons i.e- covalent bonds.The most stable bond it forms is with atoms of the same element as it reaches octet state by doing so.This results in high catenation property.

Sulphur has 2 electrons in its valence shell and cannot reach octet state by bonding with itself and hence has low catenation property.

i hope answer is helpfull

Answer 2

Explanation:

Catenation is defined as the ability of same element to form long chains. Usually, catenation occurs due to sharing of electrons between the atoms of an element.

For example, carbon has the property of catenation.

Like carbon, silicon is another element which has the ability to form long chains.

Since, silicon also shows properties similar to the properties of carbon atom. Hence after carbon atom, silicon atom has the ability to show catenation upto 7 or 8 atoms.

The compound formed by silicon through catenation are stable because these compounds are very reactive due to weak silicon-silicon bond.

Silicon combine with oxygen atom to form compounds of 7 or 8 atoms which are very reactive in nature.