Why are carbon atoms the most versatile building blocks of all molecules?

Answer 1

Carbon is versatile because it can form single, double, and triple bonds. It can also form chains, branched chains, and rings.

Also, carbon atoms bond fairly readily with other carbon atoms. It's much more energetically favorable for, say, a silicon atom to bond with an oxygen atom than another silicon atom; with carbon, the difference is less, so carbon-carbon bonds are more stable in the presense of oxygen than silicon-silicon bonds are... this is important, given that oxygen is the third most common element in the universe.

Answer 2

Carbon is versatile because it can form single, double, and triple bonds. It can also form chains, branched chains, Also, carbon atoms bond fairly readily with other carbon atoms. It's much more energetically favorable for, say, a silicon to bond with an oxygen atom than another silicon atom; with carbon, the difference is less, so carbon-carbon bonds are more stable in the presense of oxygen than silicon-silicon bonds are... this is important, given that oxygen is the third most common element in the universe.

Answer 3

Carbon is a versatile element and is found in many different chemical compounds, including those found in space. Carbon is versatile because it can form single, double, and triple bonds. It can also form chains, branched chains, and rings when connected to other carbon atoms.

Answer 4

The properties of carbon that make it such a versatile molecule are the varying length, the ability to form single or double bonds, and the structure can be branched or strait or contain rings.

Answer 5

Almost all molecules a cell creates is composed of Carbon. Carbon has the ability to form large diverse molecules. Having 4 outer electrons, it shares electrons with other atoms to form 4 covalent bonds with a variety of bond angles.

Answer 6

it can form 4 covalent bonds with other atoms. It is the backbone of all organic compounds.