Valency of carbon: Valency refers to the combining capacity

Valency refers to the combining capacity of an element, i.e. number of monovalent hydrogen atoms that can directly attach to it. For any element with four or fewer valence electrons, valency is equivalent to the number of valence electrons. For atoms with more than four valence electrons, valency equals 8 – the number of valence electrons. Learn the definition of valency, the valency of atoms and the relation between valence electrons and the chemical properties of elements. Valency of carbon refers to the combining capacity of a carbon atom, which determines how many other atoms it can bond with. This concept is important in areas like chemical bonding, molecular structure, and organic chemistry. In most compounds, the valence of hydrogen is 1, of oxygen is 2, of nitrogen is 3, and of carbon is 4. Valence is not to be confused with the related concepts of the coordination number, the oxidation state, or the number of valence electrons for a given atom.