Answer to Question #78862 in Organic Chemistry for erhabor emmanuel

Question

he number of possible isomers of an alkane increases with increase in number of carbon atoms. True or false.

Answer 1

Answer:
Yes, this is true.
Butane (4 carbon atoms) has 2 isomers.
Pentane (5 carbon atoms) has 3 isomers.
Hexane (6 carbon atoms) has 5 isomers.
Heptane (7 carbon atoms) has 9 isomers.
Octane (8 carbon atoms) has 18 isomers.
Nonane (9 carbon atoms) has 35 isomers.
Decane (10 carbon atoms) has 75 isomers.
…
Pentadecane (15 carbon atoms) has 4,347 isomers.
…
Eicosane (20 carbon atoms) has 336,319 isomers.
…
Triacontane (30 carbon atoms) has 4,111,846,763 isomers.