Natural gas is mainly methane, CH4\mathrm{CH_{4}}CH4. In a molecule of methane, one carbon atom is bonded to four hydrogen atoms.
Carbon has atomic number 6. Hydrogen has atomic number 1.
Give the electronic configuration of a carbon atom.
Give the number of covalent bonds in a methane molecule.
State the total number of electrons that are shared in a methane molecule.
Explain why each hydrogen atom forms only one covalent bond.
In a dot-and-cross diagram of methane, the electrons from carbon are shown as dots and the electrons from hydrogen are shown as crosses. Describe what each shared pair of electrons in the diagram contains.
Methane is a gas at room temperature. State the type of structure that methane has. Choose from: giant ionic, simple molecular, giant covalent.
53 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Chemistry 2.4 Covalent bonding, covering 2.4.1 Covalent bonding and simple molecules. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.