Carbon and its Compounds
Carbon has the unique ability to form bonds with other atoms of carbon, giving rise to large molecules.
This property is called catenation.
These compounds may have long chains of carbon, branched chains of carbon or even carbon atoms arranged in rings. In addition, carbon atoms may be linked by single, double or triple bonds.
Compounds of carbon, which are linked by only single bonds between the carbon atoms are called saturated compounds.
Compounds of carbon having double or triple bonds between their carbon atoms are called unsaturated compounds.
The carbon-carbon bond is very strong and hence stable. This gives us the large number of compounds with many carbon atoms linked to each other.
Compounds of carbon are formed with oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, chlorine and many other elements giving rise to compounds with specific properties
Again the bonds that carbon forms with most other elements are very strong making these compounds exceptionally stable.
COAL FORMATION:
Coal and petroleum have been formed from biomass which has been subjected to various biological and geological processes.
Coal is the remains of trees, ferns, and other plants that lived millions of years ago. These were crushed into the earth, perhaps by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
They were pressed down by layers of earth and rock
They slowly decayed into coal.
Oil and gas are the remains of millions of tiny plants and animals that lived in the sea.
When they died, their bodies sank to the sea bed and were covered by silt.
Bacteria attacked the dead remains, turning them into oil and gas under the high pressures they were being subjected to. Meanwhile, the silt was slowly compressed into rock.
The oil and gas seeped into the porous parts of the rock, and got trapped like water in a sponge
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