Scope of Analytical Chemistry

 Carbon is an
important non –metallic element. The chemistry of carbon and its compounds is
an equally important field about which you will learn in this lesson. Carbon is the
sixth most abundant element in the universe. It can exist in the free state or in the
form of its compounds. It is the major chemical constituent of most organic
matter. Carbon is the second most common element in the human body after
oxygen. Carbon is present in coal, oil and natural gas. Main natural sources of
carbon and its compound which are industrially important are coal, petroleum and
natural gas which contribute to our national economy in a big way. Carbon also
occurs in a numbers of minerals. You might have seen that when kerosene oil lamp
burns it produces black soot which contains carbon particles. You might have also
seen that when any some materials like wood, paper are burnt, a black residue is
left which contains carbon.
Carbon atoms can form compounds by combining with other carbon atoms as
well as atoms of other elements. Carbon has the unique property of forming long
chains of carbon atoms. These long chains serve as a backbone on which various
groups can attach to give a large variety of compounds. These compounds have
a variety of structures, properties and uses in our life. You will study about some
such compounds like alcohol, acetic acid, acetone etc. in this lesson.
We will begin this lesson with the discussion on the properties of carbon. Then,
various allotropic forms of carbon-viz. diamond, graphite and fullerenes will be
explained. We will also study about hydrocarbons which are compounds containing
carbon and hydrogen. Here, we will cover various aspects of hydrocarbons such
as their classification, homologous series, isomerism etc.
We will also give you a brief idea about some simple functional groups which can
attach onto the hydrocarbon backbone to yield a large number of compounds.
Further, the rules for naming the hydrocarbons and their derivatives