Tetravalence
Encyclopedia
In chemistry
, a tetravalence is the state of an atom
with four electron
s available for covalent
chemical bond
ing in its valence
(outermost electron shell
). An example is methane
(CH4): the tetravalent carbon
atom forms a covalent bond with four hydrogen
atoms. The carbon atom is called tetravalent because it forms 4 covalent bonds.
A carbon atom has a total of six electrons occupying the first two shells, i.e., the K-shell has two electrons and the L-shell has four electrons. This distribution indicates that in the outermost shell there are one completely filled 's' orbital and two half-filled 'p' orbitals, showing carbon to be a divalent atom
. But in actuality, carbon displays tetravalency in the combined state. Therefore, a carbon atom has four valence electrons. It could gain four electrons to form C4- anion or lose four electrons to form C4+ cation. Both these conditions would take carbon far away from achieving stability by the octet rule. To overcome this problem carbon undergoes bonding by sharing its valence electrons. This allows it to be covalently bonded to one, two, three or four carbon atoms or atoms of other elements or groups of atoms. Let us see how carbon forms the single, double and triple bonds in the following examples.
Methane Molecule:
Each carbon atom has four electrons in its outermost shell. Thus, it requires four more electrons to acquire a stable noble gas configuration. Each of the hydrogen atoms has only one electron in its outermost shell and requires one more electron to complete its outermost shell (to acquire He configuration). To achieve this, one carbon atom forms four single covalent bonds with four hydrogen atoms.
Carbon Dioxide
Molecule:
Each carbon atom has four electrons in its outermost shell and each oxygen
atom has six electrons in its outermost shell. Thus, each carbon atom requires four, and each oxygen atom requires two more electrons to acquire noble gas configurations. To achieve this, two oxygen atoms form a double covalent bond with carbon.
Acetylene
Molecule:
Each carbon atom has four electrons in its outermost shell and each hydrogen atom has only one electron in its outermost shell. Two carbon atoms share two electrons each with hydrogen atoms to form single bonds. Each carbon then requires three more electrons to acquire a stable configuration of the nearest noble gas (neon). This is done by mutually sharing three pairs of electrons between the two carbon atoms to form a triple bond.
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, a tetravalence is the state of an atom
Atom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
with four electron
Electron
The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
s available for covalent
Covalent bond
A covalent bond is a form of chemical bonding that is characterized by the sharing of pairs of electrons between atoms. The stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms when they share electrons is known as covalent bonding....
chemical bond
Chemical bond
A chemical bond is an attraction between atoms that allows the formation of chemical substances that contain two or more atoms. The bond is caused by the electromagnetic force attraction between opposite charges, either between electrons and nuclei, or as the result of a dipole attraction...
ing in its valence
Valence (chemistry)
In chemistry, valence, also known as valency or valence number, is a measure of the number of bonds formed by an atom of a given element. "Valence" can be defined as the number of valence bonds...
(outermost electron shell
Electron shell
An electron shell may be thought of as an orbit followed by electrons around an atom's nucleus. The closest shell to the nucleus is called the "1 shell" , followed by the "2 shell" , then the "3 shell" , and so on further and further from the nucleus. The shell letters K,L,M,.....
). An example is methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
(CH4): the tetravalent carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
atom forms a covalent bond with four hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
atoms. The carbon atom is called tetravalent because it forms 4 covalent bonds.
A carbon atom has a total of six electrons occupying the first two shells, i.e., the K-shell has two electrons and the L-shell has four electrons. This distribution indicates that in the outermost shell there are one completely filled 's' orbital and two half-filled 'p' orbitals, showing carbon to be a divalent atom
Divalent
In chemistry, a divalent ion or molecule has a valence of two and thus can form two bonds with other ions or molecules. An older term for divalent is bivalent....
. But in actuality, carbon displays tetravalency in the combined state. Therefore, a carbon atom has four valence electrons. It could gain four electrons to form C4- anion or lose four electrons to form C4+ cation. Both these conditions would take carbon far away from achieving stability by the octet rule. To overcome this problem carbon undergoes bonding by sharing its valence electrons. This allows it to be covalently bonded to one, two, three or four carbon atoms or atoms of other elements or groups of atoms. Let us see how carbon forms the single, double and triple bonds in the following examples.
Methane Molecule:
Each carbon atom has four electrons in its outermost shell. Thus, it requires four more electrons to acquire a stable noble gas configuration. Each of the hydrogen atoms has only one electron in its outermost shell and requires one more electron to complete its outermost shell (to acquire He configuration). To achieve this, one carbon atom forms four single covalent bonds with four hydrogen atoms.
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
Molecule:
Each carbon atom has four electrons in its outermost shell and each oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
atom has six electrons in its outermost shell. Thus, each carbon atom requires four, and each oxygen atom requires two more electrons to acquire noble gas configurations. To achieve this, two oxygen atoms form a double covalent bond with carbon.
Acetylene
Acetylene
Acetylene is the chemical compound with the formula C2H2. It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in pure form and thus is usually handled as a solution.As an alkyne, acetylene is unsaturated because...
Molecule:
Each carbon atom has four electrons in its outermost shell and each hydrogen atom has only one electron in its outermost shell. Two carbon atoms share two electrons each with hydrogen atoms to form single bonds. Each carbon then requires three more electrons to acquire a stable configuration of the nearest noble gas (neon). This is done by mutually sharing three pairs of electrons between the two carbon atoms to form a triple bond.