Start here

A candle, vinegar, and soap all contain carbon. They share that atom's habit.

Chapter 4 in your Class 10 book is Carbon and its Compounds. It shows what one element can do.

What you will learn

• The bond that shares — atoms share electrons instead of swapping them.
• Why carbon builds everything — four bond slots, and carbon bonds to itself.
• Single or double — a double or triple bond uses more slots. A test finds it.
• One part swapped — the end group decides a chain's family.
• A family with one difference — same group, one more CH₂ each step.
• Ethanol — a two-carbon chain that dissolves things and burns.
• Ethanoic acid — a CH₃ joined to the acid group.
• Soaps bridge oil and water — one end for each; the wash works.
• Naming a compound — a stem for carbons, an ending for the group.
• An acid and an alcohol make an ester — many smell fruity.
• An ester and an alkali — saponification, the way soap is made.

Quick catch-up

These earlier lessons help. Open one first if a line ahead is hard to follow.

• The outer shell decides — how full a shell is decides its chemistry.
• Compounds that carry charge — some compounds are made of charged particles instead.
• What acids have in common — every acid frees the same charged particle.

One rule before every bench

Every bench here is a simulation. Nothing is heated, mixed, or tasted for real. Ethanol and ethanoic acid appear only as chemistry to study. Drinking alcohol harms the body.