Which statement best describes why carbon can form a wide variety of organic compounds?

Which statement best describes why carbon can form a wide variety of organic compounds? Each carbon atom covalently bonds with atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
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Why can carbon form a wide variety of organic compounds?

Carbon is the only element that can form so many different compounds because each carbon atom can form four chemical bonds to other atoms, and because the carbon atom is just the right, small size to fit in comfortably as parts of very large molecules.
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Which statement is the best explanation why carbon atoms can form many organic compounds?

Carbon forms four covalent or shared bonds with other carbon atoms as well as many other kinds of atoms. It has an almost limitless ability to bond with other carbon atoms making possible a very large number of compounds.
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Why is carbon able to form an immense diversity of organic molecules?

The reason is carbon's ability to form stable bonds with many elements, including itself. This property allows carbon to form a huge variety of very large and complex molecules. In fact, there are nearly 10 million carbon-based compounds in living things!
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How do carbon atoms form organic compounds?

Carbon forms covalent bonds with atoms of carbon or other elements. There is a great diversity of carbon compounds, ranging in size from just one to thousands of atoms. Carbon has four valence electrons, so it can achieve a full outer energy level by forming four covalent bonds.
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Carbon Compounds | Biology



What ability allows carbon atoms to form a large number of molecules?

What ability allows carbon atoms to form a large number of molecules? carbon atoms can form covalent bonds with up to four other atoms, including other carbon atoms.
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Why carbon is so special in chemistry?

Carbon atoms are unique because they can bond together to form very long, durable chains that can have branches or rings of various sizes and often contain thousands of carbon atoms. Silicon and a few other elements can form similar chains; but they are generally shorter, and much less durable.
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Why is carbon the backbone of organic compounds?

The carbon atom has unique properties that allow it to form covalent bonds to as many as four different atoms, making this versatile element ideal to serve as the basic structural component, or “backbone,” of the macromolecules.
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Why are carbon compounds called organic compounds?

The chemical compounds of living things are known as organic compounds because of their association with organisms and because they are carbon-containing compounds. Organic compounds, which are the compounds associated with life processes, are the subject matter of organic chemistry.
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Why the number of organic compounds is so large?

Carbon can easily perform catenation that forms covalent bonds with other carbon atoms to form longer chains and higher mass structures. This is the reason for the presence of the vast number of organic compounds made of carbon in nature.
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How do carbon atoms form many organic compounds quizlet?

A carbon atom can form four bonds. What bonding properties of carbon allow it to form so many different compounds? Few elements have the ability of carbon to bond with both itself and other elements in so many different ways. With four valence electrons, each carbon atom is able to form four bonds.
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Why is carbon so special that a whole branch of chemistry is devoted to its compounds?

Carbon is special because it can attach to four other atoms, and it can do so in many different ways from rings, to chains, to double or even triple bonds. This results in many different types of organic molecules.
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Why is carbon considered as the most important element?

One of the most important chemical elements is carbon. This is because it is the main element in all living things, and because it can make so many different compounds. Unlike most elements, pure carbon can exist in different forms.
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Why are carbon bonds so strong?

The Uniqueness of Carbon

Because each carbon is identical, they all have four valence electrons, so they can easily bond with other carbon atoms to form long chains or rings. In fact, a carbon atom can bond with another carbon atom two or three times to make double and triple covalent bonds between two carbon atoms.
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What property of carbon allows to form a large number of carbon compounds?

Catenation (self linking of carbon atoms to form long chains) and Tetravalency are the two properties of carbon which lead to the formation of a large number of carbon compounds.
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Why is the element carbon so versatile?

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.
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What property of carbon makes it form large macromolecules?

The fundamental component for all of these macromolecules is carbon. The carbon atom has unique properties that allow it to form covalent bonds to as many as four different atoms, making this versatile element ideal to serve as the basic structural component, or “backbone,” of the macromolecules.
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Why is carbon so important in biology quizlet?

Why is carbon so important in biology? It can form a variety of carbon skeletons and host functional groups.
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Which statement explains why carbon forms so many compounds?

The answer is 4) Carbon readily forms covalent bonds with other carbon atoms.
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Which of the following best describes a possible carbon compound quizlet?

Which of the following best describes a possible carbon compound? One carbon atom forms a double bond with an oxygen atom and two single bonds with two hydrogen atoms.
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Which of the following statements best describes organic compounds?

Q. Which of the following statements BEST describe organic compound? Organic compounds are compounds that contain carbon and oxygen only.
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Why carbon is large number of organic compound?

Carbon forms large number of compound due to following reasons: 1. Catenation: The unique property of the 'C' element to be able to form continuous links with other 'C' atoms through covalency called catenation, is one reason for the existence of a large number of organic compounds.
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Why does carbon form strong bonds with most other elements?

Carbon forms strong bonds with most other elements because of its small size which enables the nucleus to hold on to the shared pairs of electrons strongly.
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Why does carbon form large number of compounds with oxygen?

Carbon forms a large number of compounds because of its tetravalent nature (oxidation state =4) and also due to a self-linking property called catenation.
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Why does carbon form compounds mainly by covalent bonding?

It cannot lose 4 electrons as it involves a lot of energy. Also, it cannot gain 4 electrons because the nucleus cannot hold on to the four extra electrons added. Therefore, to complete the octet, it shares 4 electrons with other atoms. That is why, carbon forms compounds mainly by covalent bonding.
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