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Covalent Compounds 1
Table below indicates the number of covalent bonds of some common elements that can form covalent compounds:
Element |
Symbol |
Number of bonds |
Hydrogen |
H |
1 |
Carbon |
C |
4 |
Oxygen |
O |
2 |
Nitrogen |
N |
3 |
Chlorine |
Cl |
1 |
For example: A methane molecule contains one carbon and four hydrogen atoms. This can be illustrated as follows
The lines represent chemical bonds and notice that the carbon atom is connected to four hydrogen atoms, whereas
each hydrogen atom can only have one bond, which is connected to the carbon atom (see Table above).
Note that the subscript number 4 indicates there are four hydrogen atoms. Atomic symbols without
any subscript number on the left means there is only one of the atom.
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