// FIELD GUIDE 14 — LEVEL L3 (GCSE / NATIONAL 5)
Organic chemistry: carbon's chains
Carbon can bond to four other atoms at once, including other carbons — which lets it build chains, rings, and branches no other element can match. Build a chain yourself below.
// FIG. 01 — HYDROCARBON CHAIN BUILDER
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// L3 — ALKANES: THE SATURATED FAMILY
Alkanes are the simplest hydrocarbons — carbon chains with every possible bond to hydrogen filled ("saturated"). Their general formula is CₙH₂ₙ₊₂. Methane, the gas you cook with, is the one-carbon alkane; the rest of a candle, petrol, and crude oil are longer chains from the same family.
// L3 — ALKENES: THE REACTIVE FAMILY
Alkenes have one C=C double bond, so they're "unsaturated" — missing some hydrogens compared to alkanes (CₙH₂ₙ). That double bond is a weak spot other chemicals can attack, which makes alkenes far more reactive — and is exactly what lets us link thousands of them together into plastics like polyethylene.
// REFERENCES & FURTHER READING
Cross-check against your own exam board's specification (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, SQA).