Peculiar Behaviour of Carbon

Peculiar Behaviour Of Carbon:
Carbon show different properties from the rest of the members due to small
size , high electronegativity and the absence of d- sub shell. The main points
of differences are
1; Carbon show catenation.
2; Carbon show isomerism
3; Carbon cannot extend its valence shell due to the absence of d- sub shell.
4; Carbon can form multiple bond with other C- atoms as well as as with N O
and S.
5; Carbon has one screening shell.
6; Carbon is the necessarily elements of all living organism.
The amount of carbon present in the earth’s atmosphere and its crust is
quite low. There is only 0.02% carbon in the earth’s crust existing in the form
of minerals (such as carbonates, coal, hydrogen carbonates) and 0.03%
carbon in the earth’s atmosphere existing in the form of carbon dioxide.
In spite of this small amount of carbon available in nature, carbon holds an

utmost importance in chemistry. It’s so important that whole of chemistry is
divided into two parts – organic chemistry (chemistry of compounds
containing carbon) and inorganic chemistry (chemistry of compounds which
doesn’t contain carbon). It’s very surprising but as evident from the name
itself, organic chemistry is also chemistry of organic (or living) things and all
living or organic things have carbon in them.
Carbon - Anomalous Behavior:

Carbon, just like the other first members of their respective groups, is
peculiar from the other members of the group. This behaviour is observed in
carbon mainly due to it’s:
Small size of the atom
High electronegative
High ionization enthalpy

Unavailability of d-orbital’s
The reasons behind this anomalous behaviour of carbon are as follows:
Tetravalency Of Carbon:
Carbon has tetravalency i.e. it can share four electrons to complete its octet
and so it can be bonded to four different monovalent atoms. Carbon from a
large variety of compounds with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, halogens
resulting in a different set of compounds which have distinctive
characteristics and properties.
Due to the availability of only s and p orbitals, it can hold only four pairs of
electrons in its valence shell. Thus, the covalence can be limited to four but
other elements of the group have greater covalence due to the existence of
d-orbital.
Catenation:
Carbon has a unique feature of forming long carbon chains i.e. it attaches
with other carbon atoms to form long carbon chains. This property is known
as catenation. This chain can be as big as to contain a total of 70-80 carbon.
This gives rise to very complex compounds having straight carbon chain,
branched carbon chain and ring. The carbon compounds having only single
bond are known as saturated hydrocarbons whereas compounds having
double or triple bond are known as unsaturated hydrocarbons.
Small Size Of Carbon:

Most of the properties of carbon are also because of its small size.
Compounds formed by carbon are highly stable, because of its small size.
Due to its small size, the nucleus can effectively hold on to bonded and
nonbonded electrons.
Hence, in short tetravalency, small size and property of catenation make
carbon different from other elements and so we have the whole branch of
chemistry dedicated to the study of this kind of compound.
Nitrogen:
Nitrogen, the first member of group 15, differs from others group members
because of :-
i) Small size of N atom.
ii) High value of electronegativity of N atom and high ionization

energy.
iii) Absence of d-orbitals in the valency shell.
iv) Tendency of form multipole bonds.
The properties in which nitrogen differs from other members of 15 groups

are listed below.
i) Nitrogen is gas while others members are solids.
ii) Nitrogen molecule is diatomic while other elements from teratomic

molecules such as
p4, As4 and Sb4.
iii) The catenation property is more pronounced in nitrogen.
iv) Nitrogen forms five oxides of monomeric nature. Others can form at
the most three
types of oxides, X4O6, X4O10 of dimeric nature. N2O4 exists in
dimeric from and is
diamagnetic.
v) Hydride of nitrogen is stable while the hydrides of other elements are
not stable and acts
as reducing agent. Hydrogen bonding is present in ammonia but not
present in other hydrides.
vi) Expect NF3, the halides of nitrogen are unstable and explosive. The
halides of other
elements are stable. Unlike P, as and Sb, nitrogen does not form
pentahalides.
vii) Nitrogen can form trinegative ion N3-. This tendency is less in P but
absent in other
elements
Oxygen:
Oxygen is the first member of the group 16 family and differs from the other
members of the family because of
(1) Its small size
(2) Its high electronegativity
(3) Its high ionisation energy
(4) Absence of d-orbitals in the valence shell
It differs from the other members of the family as follows:
(1)Elemental state : Oxygen is a diatomic gas while others are octa-

atomic solids with eight
membered puckered ring structure.
(2)Oxidation states : Oxygen shows O.S. of –2 in most of its compounds. It
also shows an O. S. of +2 in F2O and –1 in H2O2 or other peroxides. It
cannot show O.S. beyond 2. Other elements show oxidation states of
+2, +4 and +6 because these elements have vacant d-orbitals so that
their valence shell can expand.
(3)Hydrogen-bonding: Oxygen atom is very small and has quite high

nuclear charge. therefore, it has high value of electronegativity and is
able to form H-bonds. the other elements, because of their large size,
cannot form H-bonds. As a result, H2O is liquid while H2S is a gas and
H2Se etc., are solids.
(4)Maximum covalency: Oxygen has a maxium covalency of two while

other elements can
show a maximum covalency of six. This is because these elements

have vacant d-orbitals while oxygen has not.
(5)Types of compounds: The compounds of oxygen are mainly ionic and

polar covalent due to high electronegativity of oxygen while those of
others are not.
Fluorine:
Fluorine differs from rest of the elements of its family due to

(i) its small size
(ii) highest electronegativity,
(iii) low bond dissociation energy and
(iv) absence of d-orbitals in the valence shell.
The main points of difference are :
(1) Fluorine is most reactive of all the halogens due to lower value of F —
F bond
dissociation energy (F2 = 158, Cl2 = 243, bromine = 192 and iodine = 151 kJ
mol–1) .
(2) Being the most electronegative element, it shows only an oxidation state
of –1 and does not show positive oxidation states due to absence of d-
orbitals in its valence shell. Other halogens show positive oxidation states
of +1, +3, +5 and +7.
(3) Due to small atomic size and high electronegativity of H, HF undergoes
strong H-
bonding while other halogen acids do not. As a result,
(i) HF is a liquid (boiling point 292.5K), while other halogen acids are gases
at room temperature (boiling point of HCl = 189 K, HBr = 206 K, HI =
238 K).
(ii) HF is weakest of all the halogen acids due to high strength of H —
F bond.
(iii) Due to H-bonding, HF can form acid salts of the type KHF2, i.e., K+[H –
F ... F–]
while HCl, HBr and HI do not form such salts (i.e., no KHCl,
KHBr2 and KHl2 are
known).
(4) Fluorides have the maximum ionic character. For example AlF3 is ionic
while other
halides of are covalent.
(5) Of all the halogens, fluorine has the highest positive electrode potential
(F2 = 2.87,
Cl2 = 1.36, Br2 = 1.09 and 12 = 0.53 volt) i.e., it is most easily reduced and
hence acts as the strongest oxidising agent. It brings about the highest
oxidation of other elements with which it combines. For example with S, it
gives SF6, with I2 it gives IF1. Other halogens do not always bring about the
highest oxidation state. For example, with sulphur gives Cl2 gives SCl4,
Br2 while SBr2 does I2 not react at all. F2 is so powerful oxidising agent that
it can even oxidise inert-gases.
(6) HF cannot be stored in glass bottles since it reacts with silicates to form
fluorosilicates.
Na2SiO3 + 6 HF ———> Na2SiF6 + 3 H2O
While other halogen acids (HCl, HBr and HI) do not react with silicates and
hence can
be stored in glass bottles.
(7) AgF is soluble in H2O while all other silver halides i.e., AgCl, AgBr and
Agl are
insoluble in water. In constant, CaF2 is insoluble while other calcium
halides i.e., CaCl2, CaBr2, Cal2 are soluble inH2O.
(8) Due to absence of -orbitals, fluorine, does not form polyhalide ions while
other
halogens form polyhalides of the type I3–, Br3–, I5– etc.

Peculiar Behaviour of Carbon

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Peculiar Behaviour Of Carbon:

1; Carbon show catenation.

2; Carbon show isomerism

5; Carbon has one screening shell.

6; Carbon is the necessarily elements of all living organism.

In spite of this small amount of carbon available in nature, carbon holds an

Carbon - Anomalous Behavior:

Small size of the atom

High ionization enthalpy

The reasons behind this anomalous behaviour of carbon are as follows:

Small Size Of Carbon:

i) Small size of N atom.

ii) High value of electronegativity of N atom and high ionization

iii) Absence of d-orbitals in the valency shell.

iv) Tendency of form multipole bonds.

The properties in which nitrogen differs from other members of 15 groups

i) Nitrogen is gas while others members are solids.

ii) Nitrogen molecule is diatomic while other elements from teratomic

p4, As4 and Sb4.

iii) The catenation property is more pronounced in nitrogen.

(1) Its small size

(2) Its high electronegativity

(3) Its high ionisation energy

(4) Absence of d-orbitals in the valence shell

It differs from the other members of the family as follows:

(1)Elemental state : Oxygen is a diatomic gas while others are octa-

(3)Hydrogen-bonding: Oxygen atom is very small and has quite high

(4)Maximum covalency: Oxygen has a maxium covalency of two while

show a maximum covalency of six. This is because these elements

(5)Types of compounds: The compounds of oxygen are mainly ionic and

Fluorine differs from rest of the elements of its family due to

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