Question

In chemistry, there is a class of compounds called alkanes. they have the general formula , where c stands for a carbon atom and h stands for a hydrogen atom. the subscript x stands for the number of carbon atoms, and the subscript stands for the number of hydrogen atoms in one molecule of the compound. carbon atoms hydrogen atoms alkane formula 1 4 2 6 3 8 suppose an alkane had 30 hydrogen atoms. how many carbon atoms would it have?

a. 15 atoms
c. 14 atoms
b. 62 atoms
d. 28 atoms

Answer 1

C. 14 atoms
The question has a typo, but the term Alkane is that for an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon which consists of a chain of carbon atoms all with a single bond to each other and the rest of the available bonds occupied with a hydrogen atom. Some examples are methane CH4, ethane C2H6, propane C3H8. The general formula is for N carbon atoms there's 2N+2 hydrogen atoms.
Setup an equation and solve for N
2N + 2 = 30
2N = 28
N = 14
So the answer is "C. 14 atoms"

Answer 2

Alkanes are homologous saturated hydrocarbon with a formula CnH(2n+2),
they are saturated hydrocarbon because they lack double or tripple bond between carbon atoms and each carbon has a maximum number of bonds (4 bonds). Therefore, a hydrocarbon with 30 hydrogen will have;
2n + 2 = 30
2n = 28
n = 14
thus, 14 carbon atoms.