What is the most important property of carbon?
This give carbon the ability to form long chains and rings of atoms, which are the structural basis for many compounds that comprise the living cell, of which the most important is DNA. Big quantities of carbon are found in the form of compounds.
What makes carbon suitable as a basis for life?
Life on Earth is based on carbon, likely because each carbon atom can form bonds with up to four other atoms simultaneously. This quality makes carbon well-suited to form the long chains of molecules that serve as the basis for life as we know it, such as proteins and DNA.
Why is carbon an essential element?
Why is carbon so basic to life? The reason is carbon's ability to form stable bonds with many elements, including itself. This property allows carbon to form a huge variety of very large and complex molecules.
What makes carbon so special?
Carbon is very special because it can form so many compounds. The explanation lies deep inside the atom. Carbon atoms can form strong links with four other atoms. This dramatically increases the number of patterns that carbon atoms can make.
Why is carbon an organic compound?
organic compound, any of a large class of chemical compounds in which one or more atoms of carbon are covalently linked to atoms of other elements, most commonly hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen. The few carbon-containing compounds not classified as organic include carbides, carbonates, and cyanides.
Why is carbon considered as the backbone of all organic compound?
Because a C atom can form covalent bonds to as many as four other atoms, it's well suited to form the basic skeleton, or “backbone,” of a macromolecule.
What properties of carbon make it the central component of organic compounds?
What property of carbon makes it essential for organic life? Carbon is unique and found in all living things because it can form up to four covalent bonds between atoms or molecules.
What properties of carbon make it the central component of organic compounds quizlet?
Carbon has only 4 valence electrons, they bond readily to gain more valence electrons. Carbon can form long chains, branched molecules and rings, these serve as the backbone for organic molecules. Carbon also forms covalent bonds with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur.
What property of carbon makes it so important in the formation of molecules in life quizlet?
Carbon can bond to four other atoms which makes it so there is a wide variety of molecules that it can make. Carbon has the most potential to make large, complex and varied molecules. It can make proteins, DNA, carbohydrates and other molecules that distinguish living matter from inanimate material.
What are the properties of carbon that make organic molecules so diverse and complex?
Carbon has an exceptional ability to bind with a wide variety of other elements. Carbon makes four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds, allowing carbon atoms to form multiple stable bonds with other small atoms, including hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Why is carbon so important to organisms on Earth quizlet?
Carbon is essential to all known life on Earth because it is the main element in organic compounds. Organic compounds, in turn, make up cells and other structures of organisms. They also carry out life processes.)
Why carbon is the backbone of organic molecules?
The bonding properties of carbon Perhaps more important, however, is carbon's capacity for covalent bonding. Because a C atom can form covalent bonds to as many as four other atoms, it's well suited to form the basic skeleton, or “backbone,” of a macromolecule.
Why is carbon considered organic?
Life is based on carbon; organic chemistry studies compounds in which carbon is a central element. The properties of carbon make it the backbone of the organic molecules which form living matter. Carbon is a such a versatile element because it can form four covalent bonds.
How does carbon become part of organic molecules?
Photosynthesis by land plants, bacteria, and algae converts carbon dioxide or bicarbonate into organic molecules. Organic molecules made by photosynthesizers are passed through food chains, and cellular respiration converts the organic carbon back into carbon dioxide gas.