Question

Briefly explain the chemical properties of carbon.

Answer 1

Carbon:

• Carbon is the element that is found in all living things and is an essential constituent of them.
• The exceptional property of carbon is its tetravalency due to which it can make multiple bonds with other carbon atoms, called catenation.
• Moreover, carbon is a versatile element because it exists in various forms exhibiting a huge diversity of varying properties.

The chemical properties of carbon can be discussed as;

• Reaction with oxygen (combustion): Carbon exists in various allotropic forms and all of them have a great affinity for oxygen, hence the burn-in presence of oxygen to produce carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. It depends on the supply of oxygen, in excess supply of oxygen-carbon dioxide is formed and a poisonous gas carbon monoxide is formed in a limited supply of oxygen. The reaction for both the cases is depicted as ;

$\underset{\mathbf{Carbon}}{\mathbf{C}\mathbf{\left(}\mathbf{s}\mathbf{\right)}}\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\underset{\underset{\mathbf{(}\mathbf{limited}\mathbf{}\mathbf{supply}\mathbf{)}}{\mathbf{Oxygen}}}{\mathbf{}{\mathbf{O}}_{\mathbf{2}\mathbf{}}\mathbf{\left(}\mathbf{g}\mathbf{\right)}}\mathbf{}\mathbf{\to }\underset{\mathbf{Carbon}\mathbf{}\mathbf{monoxide}}{\mathbf{}\mathbf{2}\mathbf{CO}\mathbf{\left(}\mathbf{g}\mathbf{\right)}}\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}\mathbf{heat}$

• Reaction with hydrogen: Carbon can bind with hydrogen to form a mixture of compounds having $\mathbf{C}\mathbf{-}\mathbf{H}$ bonds, called hydrocarbons. These types of bonds are generally found in many organic compounds. The reaction of carbon with hydrogen takes place under 250 atmospheric pressure and 500 $\mathbf{°}\mathbf{C}$ temperature forming various hydrocarbons like ethane, methane, etc.

$\underset{\mathbf{Carbon}}{\mathbf{C}}\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}\underset{\mathbf{Hydrogen}}{\mathbf{2}{\mathbf{H}}_{\mathbf{2}}}\mathbf{}\mathbf{\to }\underset{\mathbf{Methane}}{\mathbf{}{\mathbf{CH}}_{\mathbf{4}}}$

• Carbon as a reducing agent: Carbon is considered to be a good reducing agent which possesses the ability to reduce metal oxides to corresponding metals with the evolution of carbon monoxide. It can also reduce concentrated Sulphuric acid to form ${\mathbf{SO}}_{\mathbf{2}}$ and concentrated nitric acid to form ${\mathbf{NO}}_{\mathbf{2}}$. Such types of reactions requires high temperatures.