Question

What group number is carbon in?

Answer 1

Hint: To solve this question we first need to know how elements are arranged in the periodic table. We know that in the modern periodic table, "the element's physical and chemical properties are the periodic function of their atomic numbers."

Complete answer:
Let us first understand what is a group. The column of chemical elements in the modern periodic table is known as a group or a family.
There are 18 groups or columns in the modern periodic table.
In the modern periodic table, the elements which have the same number of electrons in their outermost shell or the valence shell are present in the same group and hence have similar chemical and physical properties.
These groups are further divided into blocks according to the subshell in which the outermost electron falls.
So, in the s-block, the outermost electron falls in the s subshell. There are two groups (1 and 2) in the s-block. In the d-block, the outermost electron falls in the d subshell. There are 10 groups (3 to 12) in the d-block. In the p-block, the outermost electron falls in the p subshell. There are 6 groups (13 to 18) in the p-block.
Now, let us look at the electronic configuration of carbon. The atomic number of carbon is 6.
\[^{6}C=1{{s}^{2}}2{{s}^{2}}2{{p}^{2}}\]
Since its outermost electron falls in the p subshell, carbon exists in the p-block.
For p-block elements, the group number is determined by adding 10 to the number of valence electrons.
So, carbon is present in group 14 of the modern periodic table.

Note:
It should be noted that the f-block, where the outermost electron falls in the f subshell, consists of two rows and 14 columns i.e., 28 elements. The f- block falls between group 2 and group 3 in the 6th period (lanthanides) and the 7th period (actinides) of the modern periodic table. These groups/columns are not numbered.