Question

How does the carbon atom complete its octet?

Answer 1

@momo840 This should be in chemistry. Anyway, carbon is a unique element. How it can complete its octet is largely why it is part of life. Carbon can either lose 4 or gain 4 elections, making it particularly good at forming a wide variety of bonds and molecules.

Answer 2

Generally carbon completes its octet by forming 4 covalent bonds. Since a bond contains 2 electrons and neutral carbon has 4 electrons, each of the four electrons gets shared with 4 other partners who are also sharing at least 1 each to complete the octet.