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Methane (US: / ˈ m ɛ θ eɪ n / METH-ayn, UK: / ˈ m iː θ eɪ n / MEE-thayn) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CH 4 (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas.
The average time that a physical methane molecule is in the atmosphere is estimated to be around 9.6 years. [68] [69] [67] However, the average time that the atmosphere will be affected by the emission of that molecule before reaching equilibrium – known as its 'perturbation lifetime' – is approximately twelve years. [29] [70]
In a tetrahedral molecular geometry, a central atom is located at the center with four substituents that are located at the corners of a tetrahedron.The bond angles are arccos(− 1 / 3 ) = 109.4712206...° ≈ 109.5° when all four substituents are the same, as in methane (CH 4) [1] [2] as well as its heavier analogues.
There are many oxides of carbon , of which the most common are carbon dioxide (CO 2) and carbon monoxide (CO). Other less known oxides include carbon suboxide (C 3 O 2) and mellitic anhydride (C 12 O 9). [5] There are also numerous unstable or elusive oxides, such as dicarbon monoxide (C 2 O), oxalic anhydride (C 2 O 4), and carbon trioxide (CO 3).
Carbon is one of the few elements that can form long chains of its own atoms, a property called catenation.This coupled with the strength of the carbon–carbon bond gives rise to an enormous number of molecular forms, many of which are important structural elements of life, so carbon compounds have their own field of study: organic chemistry.
Ball-and-stick model of the methane molecule, CH 4. Methane is part of a homologous series known as the alkanes, which contain single bonds only. In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. [1]: 620 Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides.
The symmetry of a carbon dioxide molecule is linear and centrosymmetric at its equilibrium geometry. The length of the carbon–oxygen bond in carbon dioxide is 116.3 pm, noticeably shorter than the roughly 140 pm length of a typical single C–O bond, and shorter than most other C–O multiply bonded functional groups such as carbonyls. [19]
For example, carbon-containing compounds such as alkanes (e.g. methane CH 4) and its derivatives are universally considered organic, but many others are sometimes considered inorganic, such as halides of carbon without carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon bonds (e.g. carbon tetrachloride CCl 4), and certain compounds of carbon with nitrogen and ...