based on their locations on the periodic table, would you expect carbon and silicon to have similar properties?

Question

based on their locations on the periodic table, would you expect carbon and silicon to have similar properties?

Answer 1

yes they are in the same column and both form tetrehedral crytals

Answer 2

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While similar to carbon, silicon does not form double bonds in the way that carbon does. Nor does it form extensive ring compounds. This is ultimately due to the fact that carbon is smaller and more electronegative than silicon. The only way that silicon form complex structures is in conjunction with oxygen and even then, it is more limited than carbon. So it is unlikely that the complexities required for life would be possible for silicon based chemistry. Too bad....

Answer 3

(I like playing the Devil's Advocate.) I believe from their location in the PT that C and Si should have very different chemical properties! The chemistry of the first member of the group 14, 15, 16 elements are so different from the second and subsequent members of the group that in virtually every chem text the chemistry of C, N and O is considered separately, from Si,Ge,Sn,Pb (group 14), P,As,Sb, Bi (group 15) and S,Se,Te (group 16). The heavier elements of these groups are similar.

Yes, you can make SiH4 and SiCl4 analogous to CH4 (natural gas) and CCl4 (use to be used as nonflammable solvent) but SiH4 ignites in air and SiCl4 reacts instantly with H2O in air to give choking white fumes of HCl and SiO2.

Carbon has the unique ability for catenation: the ability to form strong element-element (where would we be without it). Some cmpds with Si-Si-Si-Si bonds are known but they are both kinetically unstable (readily react with O2 to give O-Si-O-Si-) and thermodynamically unstable (less AO overlap).

C atoms can get in close to another C, N or O to form pπ-pπ double bonds (C=C, C=N, C=O). Some cmpds with Si=Si bonds are known but they are unstable; I believe that no stable cmpd with a Si=O is known (think about this, and cmpds such as benzene C6H6 and phenyl groups in organic cmpds; graphite).

On the other hand, Si has low energy 3d AOs that it can involve in bonding (rare but [SiF6]^2- forms when glass, SiO2, dissolves in HF). These AOs also provide low energy routes for rxn (Fukui frontier concept).

Conclusion: the similarities of the chemistry of C and Si are superficial.

Answer 4

Both elements are in group 14 aka 4A .



Their electron configurations are:

Si: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p2 (ends in 3s2 3p2 - 4 electrons in the highest energy level)

C: 1s2 2s2 2p2 (ends in 2s2 2p2 - 4 electrons in the highest energy level)



Both have 4 electrons in their highest energy level - these are the valence electrons which are the electrons that are involved in chemical bonding. These electrons determine much of the chemical behavior of atoms. That is why they have similar chemical properties.



Hope that helped:)

Answer 5

Yes,



They both have 4 valence electrons