Page 159 - The Creation Of The Universe

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar) 157

O

H H

WATER AND METHANE:
TWO DIFFERENT
H
EXAMPLES OF
COVALENT BONDS

In the water molecule (above),
H C H there is a covalent bond be-
tween the two hydrogen atoms
and the one oxygen atom. In
the methane molecule below,
four hydrogen atoms form co-
H valent bonds with a single car-
bon atom.

But it is precisely here that the situation starts to become curious be-
cause carbon is metastable only within a very narrow range of tem-

peratures. Specifically, carbon compounds become very unstable when
the temperature goes over 100°C.
This fact is so commonplace in our everyday lives that most of us take
it for granted. When we cook meat for example, what we're really doing is
changing the structure of its carbon compounds. But there's a point here
that we should note: The cooked meat has become completely "dead"; that
is, its chemical structure is different from what it had when it was part of a
living organism. Indeed most carbon compounds become "denatured"
at temperatures above 100°C: the majority of vitamins for example sim-
ply fall apart at that temperature; sugars also undergo structural changes
and lose some of their nutritional value; and at around 150°C, carbon com-