Explain why carbon is able to form such a large number of compounds and describe several different types of hydrocarbon compounds.

Carbon is the only element having the ability to form large numbers of compounds because carbon atom has four electrons in its valence shell and can share not only one but more electrons with other atoms and can form four chemical bonds  which results into huge number of hydrocarbons.

Different types of hydrocarbons are:

Methane - it has only one carbon bounded with four hydrogen atoms with single bond and have chemical formula CH4.

Ethane: it has two carbon atoms attached with single bond and bounded with three hydrogen atoms each with single bond and have chemical formula C2H6.

Ethene: it has two carbon atoms attached with double bond and bounded with two hydrogen atoms each with single bond and have chemical formula C2H4.

Butyne: it has four carbon atoms, two of which are attached with triple bond and rest electrons are attached with hydrogen atoms and have chemical formula C4H6.

Hence, carbon  is able to form such a large number of compounds.

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