Question

Ethane, with the molecular formula, has:
A) 6 covalent bonds
B) 7 covalent bonds
C) 8 covalent bonds
D) 9 covalent bonds

Answer 1

Hint: A covalent bond, or molecular bond, is a chemical bond that involves the sharing of electrons between atoms. These electrons are called shared pairs or bonding pairs. Generally, covalent bonding occurs between non-metal elements.

Complete step by step answer:
The given molecule in the question is ethane.
The molecular formula of ethane is \[{{C}_{2}}{{H}_{6}}\].
Ethane contains two carbons and 6 hydrogens.
The structure of the ethane is as follows.

Now, count the number of sigma bonds or covalent bonds present in the above structure of ethane.
There are six bonds between carbon and hydrogen and one bond between carbon and carbon.
All the atoms in the ethane are non-metals. So, all the bonds are covalent bonds.
The total number of covalent bonds that are present in the ethane molecule is seven.

So, the correct answer is B. Seven covalent bonds are present in ethane.

Note: Don’t be confused with the words covalent bond and sigma bond. A covalent bond is of two types.
Sigma bond and pi bond are the two types of covalent.
Sigma bond: They are the strongest type of covalent chemical bond. Sigma bond is formed by head-on overlapping between atomic orbitals of atoms.
Pi-bond: It is also a covalent chemical bond formed where two lobes of an orbital on one atom overlap two lobes of an orbital on another atom and the overlap occurs laterally.