In reply to Horace Heffner's message of Fri, 5 Dec 2008 12:44:40 -0900: Hi, [snip] > >On Dec 5, 2008, at 11:55 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> In reply to Horace Heffner's message of Fri, 5 Dec 2008 03:49:22 >> -0900: >> Hi, >> [snip] >>> Say, it may be that CH gas is being momentarily created in the >>> process. >> [snip] >> CH is a radical, and would not likely have a long life. > >What makes you say CH is a radical? It is no more a radical than OH.
OH is also a radical, which by definition has at least 1 unpaired valence electron. Carbon has a valence of 4, and Hydrogen of 1, so CH has three unpaired electrons, OH has 1, since Oxygen has a valence of 2. The first stable hydrocarbon is CH4 (methane). [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
