Carbon in its various forms has been known since ancient times in the form of soot, charcoal, graphite and diamonds. Its name is derived from a Latin word “carbo” which means “charcoal”. Ancient cultures did not realize, of course, that these substances were different forms of the same element. But what makes Carbon such an interesting element can be directly attributed to its two unique properties, i.e. tetra-valency and catenation. It is because of these properties that the element has the capacity to form a large number of compounds.Not only is carbon the fourth most abundant element in the universe, it has so far more than three million compounds know to us till date.Carbon has the atomic number of 6, meaning each carbon atom has a total of six electrons. Two are in the completed inner orbit, while four electrons are found in the atom’s outermost orbit. This basically means that carbon has four valence electrons (outer electrons that are available forforming bonds with other atoms). Because of this arrangement within the atom’s orbits, carbon is called tetravalent.

The carbon’s four valence electrons can be shared by other atoms (that have electrons to share), thus forming what we call covalent bonds (shared electrons bonds). The carbon atom also has the ability to form a bond with other carbon atoms to create covalent bondsforming long strings of carbon atoms, bonded to each other like links in a chain.What makes carbon unique is its ability in forming covalent bonds which are very strong in nature. The small size of the carbon atom makes the compounds of Carbon exceptionally stable. Hence carbon as an element has the ability to form a variety of stable compounds, which can exist freely in nature.

thank u for great help