Chemical weathering over hundreds of thousands of years formed modern caves. One form of chemical weatheri 7_9 occurs when carbon dioxide reacts with water to produce carbonic acid, H_ CO₃. How many bonds formed in H_ CO_ ? Each of the elements found in carbonic acid has the number of valence electrons shown: H valence electrons: 1 C valence electrons: 4 O valence electrons: 6 Based on this information, how many single and how many double bonds are found in carbonic acid? (1 point) 6 single bonds and 1 double bond 6 single bonds and 0 double bonds 4 single bonds and 1 double bond 4 single bonds and 0 double bonds

Question

GPT-4o mini · Answer

To determine the number of single and double bonds in carbonic acid (H₂CO₃), let's first analyze its molecular structure.

Carbonic acid consists of:

1 carbon atom (C)
3 oxygen atoms (O)
2 hydrogen atoms (H)

Here’s how the bonding works in carbonic acid:

Carbon typically forms four bonds due to its four valence electrons.
Oxygen typically forms two bonds due to its six valence electrons.
Hydrogen forms one bond due to its one valence electron.

In carbonic acid (H₂CO₃), the structure can be represented as follows:

       O
       ||
 H - O - C - O - H

In this structure:

The carbon atom is double bonded to one oxygen atom.
The carbon atom is single bonded to two other oxygen atoms, each of which is also bonded to a hydrogen atom.

Summary of Bonds:

1 double bond between carbon (C) and one oxygen (O).
2 single bonds between carbon (C) and the other two oxygens (O), which, in turn, are bonded to hydrogen (H).

Thus, the total number of bonds is:

Number of single bonds: 2 (C-O)
Number of double bonds: 1 (C=O)

So the correct answer is:

2 single bonds and 1 double bond.

However, in the options provided:

The closest related option is 4 single bonds and 1 double bond, because if we consider the hydrogen bonds, there are 2 H-O single bonds contributing to the total count.

Therefore, the precise option from this list would be 4 single bonds and 1 double bond.