Skip to content

Course home

x
Sign up
x

Carbon forms four covalent bonds

Carbon forms four covalent bonds

Displayed formula of a methane molecule showing a central carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms by single covalent bonds

Carbon has atomic number 666 and electron arrangement 2.42.42.4, so it has four outer electrons. It shares these electrons to gain a full outer shell, so each carbon atom forms four covalent bonds.

2.3 Properties of materials Lesson

  1. GCSE
  2. /Chemistry
  3. /2.3 Properties of materials

Step-by-step lessons on OCR GCSE Chemistry 2.3 Properties of materials, covering 2.3.1 Carbon bonding and the variety of organic compounds, 2.3.2 Diamond, graphite, fullerenes and graphene, 2.3.3 Bond strength, changes of state and predicting states, 2.3.4 Bulk properties and types of bonding, and 2.3.5 Nanoparticles: scale, surface area, uses and risks. Each one builds up to exam-style questions. Nail the core quantitative topics — moles, balancing equations and calculations — early on, since they underpin higher-tier questions across every paper and topic.

Lessons