In this chapter, you will be introduced to carbon as the basis of the large and diverse family of organic compounds. You will learn how carbon compounds can be produced by living organisms, natural processes, or synthesized in the lab, and that carbon compounds exist in a wide variety of forms—from hydrocarbons to polymers.

In this chapter, you will learn: to explain carbon's unique bonding properties to define organic molecules and organic chemistry to explain how carbon and hydrogen atoms can form thousands of different hydrocarbons to define alkanes to identify conformations and structural isomers to define the term polymer to explain why recycling plastics is important