IMPORTANCE OF CARBON

Carbon is an element that is found in all organic molecules. The term organic means living. Carbon has the atomic number 6 and each atom of carbon has two electrons in its first shell and four electrons in its second shell. Thus each atom has four electrons which can be shared allowing four covalent bonds to be formed, with other - atoms. The other atoms include hydrogen oxygen and nitrogen atoms and additional carbon atoms. The valency of carbon is four. Here carbon has formed four simple bonds with hydrogen.

Multiple bonds: Carbon can form double bonds with itself, C = C. In fact, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen can all form strong multiple bonds.

In a saturated carbon compounds all carbon - carbon bonds are single (C-C). Compounds containing double or triple carbon (C=C, CC) carbon bonds are called unsaturated. Carbon forms chains of various lengths and shapes or the size of the organic molecule is determined by the number of carbon atoms present. The chemistry of organic molecule is determined by the elements and chemical groups attached to the carbon atoms and how much saturated the carbon skeleton is. Shape of the organic molecule is determined by the geometry of the bonds of carbon. The C.- H bonds is a potential source of energy. Energy may be released when hydrogen atoms are removed in an oxidation reduction process. Some of the’ molecules formed by carbon in combination of other atoms are so unstable that they last for only the briefest time and then break down, releasing energy, e.g. ATP. In other cases the molecules built with carbon skeletons may be so stable that they hardly react at all, and are so big that they cannot dissolve in water. Such compounds make up the wood of trees. Because of these special properties and reactions of carbon atom, we can almost guess the answer to the question “Could there be life without carbon?”