Help help HELPPPPPPP! any chemistry experts out there???!?

Question

hello everybody..hope everything z goin ok wid ya ... here is z a Question that i would like to have short and useful answers to. I rly hope u guyz can help me bcoz it is lyk 2:45 am ryt here and i desperatley wanna go and get sm sleep!:S
My Q says:
Si, C and Ge( Germanium) form compounds with hydrogen called hydrides. The saturated hydrides of carbon are the alkanes. Predict the formula of the hydride of germanium which contains two germanium atoms.

I am gettin GeH4 as an answer but still i believe that t z wrong as the mark scheme says dat the correct asnwer is Ge2H6:S
PLzzzzz help:S
Thnx

Answer 1

Carbon can share all its four outer electrons, so if two carbons bond, that leaves six bonds available for bonding to hydrogen. So, the alkane for carbon is ethane, C2H6. C2H4 also exists, but here the carbon-carbon bond is a double bond. BTW: the compounds are not called hydrides; hydrides are ionic.

BTW: do you always write this way? People who do in high school are called hamburger flippers because their atrocious spelling will prevent them from going further.

Answer 2

Well okay...yes....just like with the alkanes...we have methane as CH4 and ethane as C2H6 and so on, if we want to have two germanium atoms we must use Ge2H6....we can have various hydrides with various numbers of each atom and they specify two germaniums...that is what the answer is ...GeH4 is most common, but does not have two Germanium atoms.

They are setting you up to give the answer they are looking for by giving you the information about alkanes.

Answer 3

Well, your proposed compound, GeH4, has only one germanium atom. The question states that the mystery compound must have two.

Answer 4

You would expect Si and Ge to react like C. So CH4, SiH4, GeH4
C2H6, SiH6, GeH6

Answer 5

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