Carbon Acceleration Lab Report

Carbon is denoted by the symbol C, is part of group 14 on the periodic table, and is the fourth most abundant element in the universe (by mass). Carbon has an electron configuration of 1s2, 2s2, 2p2. With 4 valance shell electrons it is expected to form 4 bonds, this means carbon is tetravalent. However the s orbitals do not form the same type of bond (with other atoms) as the p orbitals, this is because their shapes are different. For example CH4 would have the following bonds: C(s)-H(s), C(s)-H(s), C(p)-H(s), C(p)-H(s). This would also mean that CH4 would have a mixture of π bonds and σ bonds. However in reality this is not the case, all the bonds of CH4 are identical. This is due to hybridization, this is where the 2s orbital and the three 2p orbitals hybridize to form sp3, a hybrid orbital. sp3 hybrid orbitals have a tetrahedral shape because each orbital positions itself at angles of 109.5° (around CH4) maximising the distance between the
The first step is to recognise the longest chain of carbon atoms, this will give the root name of the compound (take figure 1 for example). In figure 1 there are several different “paths” which can be taken through the molecule, it is important to differentiate the main chain from the different side chains. In figure 1 the longest chain of carbon atoms is seven, therefore the name it is given is heptane. There are two side chains present, both of them are methyl groups. The second step of the naming process is to label the carbon atoms so the atoms bonded on the side chains have the lowest number possible (see figure 2). In this case if the carbon atoms had been labelled from the other direction the methyl group on carbon 4 could continue to be labelled as carbon 4, however the second methyl group on carbon 3 would be labelled as carbon 5. Therefore the numeration is chosen where the methyl groups are attached to 3rd and 4th carbon