Why can't all elements with valency greater than 1 form polymer chains?

Question

The only two elements in the periodic table which can form long polymer chains are carbon and silicon, both of which have valency 4. Why can't you have, say a long chain of oxygen atoms, or a chain of nitrogen atoms with a hydrogen hanging to each nitrogen ? And tin is in the same column as C and Si, so why doesn't it form long chains with other atoms and functional groups attached to each tin atom in the chain?

Answer 1

because O-O single bonds are very weak and N-N bonds are even weaker. think of hydrogen peroxide. it contains two oxygens bonded together and bonded to an H each. you keep it in brown bottles to keep the sun from getting to it because visible light has enough energy to it that it will split the peroxide bond. its the same way with nitrogen. tin is a metal and performs metal bonding instead of covalent bonds. metal bonds are a type of metal bond, so in a way it does form long polymer chains.

Answer 2

C and Si dont go on and explode or something the other polymers. For Carbon it is just hte best element to combine with. It strong htan the others and more stable. It can eventually turn into a hardass Diamond.

Answer 3

cos carbon n silicon haf 4 valence electrons. thus they can gain 4 more electrons and be a stable compound as they can share 4 pairs of electrons with other elements. 4 is the ideal number for long polymer chains because 4 electrons+4(shared electrons) = 8. so its stable.
:)

Answer 4

I think most importantly carbon possess the property of catenation ie carbon-carbon can combine with each other and form a long chain. which is hardly possessed by any other element. even silicon also do not combine to a greatr extent like carbon.

Answer 5

some elements are more stubborn than others.