As you know, carbon is a comparably stable element compared to other elements, as carbon has 4 valence electrons. To have a full outer shell, like you said, carbon can either lose or gain 4 electrons. If so, carbon will become an ion, forming ionic bond.
However, losing or gaining 4 electrons will require tremendously high energy. Hence, carbon's ionic bonding does not occur in real life. Instead, carbon obtains full outer shell using covalent bonds.
As you know, carbon has an atomic number of 6, meaning that it has 6 protons. Also, to gain a full outer shell, a carbon atom should share 8 electrons between other elements/molecules. (4 from carbon, and 4 from others).
These shared electrons do not count when calculating a charge of an atom in a covalent compound, as they are considered "outside the shell". Hence, as only 2 electrons remains in the carbon's shell, carbon has a charge of 4+ (6-2).
I've attached an image to help you understand. (In this example, the covalent compound is methane: CH4)
Does this answer your question? It would be nice if you leave us some feedbacks.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my question Minseong! This makes a lot of sense! 😀
Hi Nic, thank you so much for your question.
As you know, carbon is a comparably stable element compared to other elements, as carbon has 4 valence electrons. To have a full outer shell, like you said, carbon can either lose or gain 4 electrons. If so, carbon will become an ion, forming ionic bond.
However, losing or gaining 4 electrons will require tremendously high energy. Hence, carbon's ionic bonding does not occur in real life. Instead, carbon obtains full outer shell using covalent bonds.
As you know, carbon has an atomic number of 6, meaning that it has 6 protons. Also, to gain a full outer shell, a carbon atom should share 8 electrons between other elements/molecules. (4 from carbon, and 4 from others).
These shared electrons do not count when calculating a charge of an atom in a covalent compound, as they are considered "outside the shell". Hence, as only 2 electrons remains in the carbon's shell, carbon has a charge of 4+ (6-2).
I've attached an image to help you understand. (In this example, the covalent compound is methane: CH4)
Does this answer your question? It would be nice if you leave us some feedbacks.