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Class 10 Carbon and its Compounds: cheat sheet
CBSE Science. Covalent bonding in carbon, homologous series and functional groups, naming, and the reactions of ethanol and ethanoic acid; soaps and detergents.
Key ideas
- Carbon forms covalent bonds by sharing electrons, because gaining or losing 4 electrons is too hard.
- Carbon has a valency of 4 and joins to other carbon atoms in chains, branches and rings (catenation).
- A homologous series has the same functional group, and each member differs from the next by CH₂.
- Saturated compounds have only single bonds; unsaturated ones have a double or triple bond.
- Names: meth- (1 carbon), eth- (2), prop- (3), but- (4); endings -ane, -ene, -yne, -ol, -al, -one, -oic acid.
- Reactions: combustion, oxidation (ethanol to ethanoic acid), addition of hydrogen to unsaturated compounds (nickel catalyst), and substitution with chlorine in sunlight.
- Soap molecules form micelles that trap oil; soap forms scum in hard water, detergents do not.
Remember
| Alkanes / alkenes / alkynes | CₙH₂ₙ₊₂ / CₙH₂ₙ / CₙH₂ₙ₋₂ |
| Ethanol / ethanoic acid | C₂H₅OH / CH₃COOH |
| Functional groups | alcohol –OH, aldehyde –CHO, ketone >C=O, carboxylic acid –COOH |
| Esterification | CH₃COOH + C₂H₅OH → CH₃COOC₂H₅ + H₂O (acid catalyst) |
Watch out
- Saying carbon forms ionic bonds.
- Counting carbons wrongly: prop- is 3 and but- is 4.
- Mixing up addition (to double bonds) and substitution (replacing hydrogen).
Worked example
For ethane (C₂H₆), how many C–H bonds and carbon–carbon bonds of each kind are there? How many covalent bonds (shared pairs) in all?
Working: a double bond is 2 shared pairs, a triple bond 3
Answer: C–H: 6; C–C single: 1; 7 shared pairs
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