Group 14 hydride

Group 14 hydrides are chemical compounds composed of hydrogen atoms and group 14 atoms (the elements of group 14 are carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, lead and flerovium). The tetrahydride series has the chemical formula , with X representing any of the carbon family. Methane is commonly the result of the decomposition of organic matter and is a greenhouse gas. The other hydrides are generally unstable, poisonous metal hydrides. They take on a pyramidal structure, and as such are not polar molecules like the other p-block hydrides. Unlike other light hydrides such as ammonia, water and hydrogen fluoride, methane does not exhibit any anomalous effects attributed to hydrogen bonding, and so its properties conform well to the prevailing trend of heavier group 14 hydrides. This series has the chemical formula . Ethane is commonly found alongside methane in natural gas. The other hydrides of the chemical formula are less stable than the corresponding tetrahydrides , and they are more and more less stable as X goes from carbon (ethane is stable) down to lead (or flerovium) in the periodic table (diplumbane is unknown). All straight-chain saturated group 14 hydrides follow the formula , the same formula for the alkanes. Many other group 14 hydrides are known. Carbon forms a huge variety of hydrocarbons (among the simplest alkanes are methane , ethane , propane , butane , pentane and hexane , with a wide range of uses. There is also polyethylene , where n is very large, a stable hydrocarbon polymer, the most commonly produced plastic. Hydrocarbons also include alkenes, which contain a double bond between carbon atoms (e.g. ethylene ), alkynes, which contain a triple bond between carbon atoms (e.g. acetylene ), cyclic and branched hydrocarbons (e.g. cyclohexane , limonene , which is a cyclic hydrocarbon with double bonds between carbon atoms, and neopentane , which is a branched hydrocarbon), as well as aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene and toluene ), whose study forms the core of organic chemistry.