Why is it possible for carbon to form so many different kinds of compounds?

Answer 1

Carbon by itself doesn't form all that many compounds, but there are a lot of molecules with carbon plus a few other elements (like oxygen or hydrogen or nitrogen).

The reason is that while carbon can (and in fact often does) combine with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and a lot of other elements, it's not all that much more energetically favorable for it to do so as opposed to bonding with another carbon atom. Since each carbon atom can have up to four bonds, this gives carbon a lot of flexibility in making complicated molecules.

Silicon also can form up to four bonds, but it bonds with oxygen much more strongly than it bonds with other silicon atoms, so if you have silicon and oxygen around, you wind up with pretty much exclusively silicon dioxide until you run out of either silicon atoms or oxygen atoms.

Answer 2

Carbon is the building block of many important compounds because it has four valence electrons that allows it bond to many other kinds of elements and molecules. It is also small and requires very little energy to bond to other elements.

Answer 3

Carbon has four valence electrons, enabling it to form covalent bonds with multiple

atoms that have free valence electrons. This allows carbon to be capable of forming chains, because of its ability to covalent bond with many atoms.

Answer 4

Carbon is many senses is a very special element.

• It is a relatively light atom, and very common atom
• It really "likes" hydrogen which makes an excellent "filler"
• It can make 4 bonds...
• Of these 4 bonds, it can bond to a neighboring carbon atom 1,2,3, or perhaps even 4 times. It can also bond with Nitrogen and Oxygen, 2 other light elements.
• Both Aromatic and saturated rings are possible.
• When bonded to "non-polar" elements like other Carbon atoms, or making symmetric bonds to atoms like hydrogen, then it is non-polar. However, it can easily incorporate polar atoms, or some kind of asymmetric bonding to make it polar.
  This is important. For example, because of the electron arrangement, oxygen and nitrogen can never really be non-polar.
  This ability to be non polar, but making polar bonds is perhaps vital to life on earth, and the reason why cell membranes can be effective.

Anyway, put these together and they are like an infinite sized tinkertoy set. Remember that carbon will make bonds with essentially any other element on the Periodic Table except the Noble Gasses.

Another aspect is that "life" on earth chose to use Carbon as it's basic building block. Other elements such as Silicon, or Germanium would have functioned similarly, or perhaps even Nitrogen. But, since Carbon is the core building block for all life on earth, it is also the core of all organic compounds.

Answer 5

Carbon's tetravalency and ability to bond to itself.

Answer 6

Because carbon can make very long chains an can combine in any shape and pattern.

Answer 7

becuase it have many bonds