Question

What are the main factors that enables carbon to form large number of compounds?​

Answer 1

The factors that enable carbon to form a large number of compounds are tetravalency and catenation.

• Due to the number of electrons present in the last shell, carbon forms covalent compounds.
• The two main reasons are tetravalency and catenation among carbon to form large compounds.
• The tetravalency of carbon is its ability to form bonds with other atoms by sharing its valence electrons.
• Catenation is the bonding of atoms of the same element into a series, called a chain.

Answer 2

Explanation:

Carbon forms numerous compounds because of the following reasons:

Tetra valency – Carbon atoms readily form covalent bonds with the other atoms.

Catenation – Two carbon atoms readily form covalent bonds, and this bond is more stable than the bonds formed by the other elements.

Carbon atoms have varying bond order and hybridisation. That is, they can form double or triple bonds.

The electronegativity of the carbon atom is average.

Carbon atoms can share not only a single electron with another atom to form a single bond, but they can also share two or three electrons, forming a double or triple bond.