Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds. There are more than 35 million organic compounds known till date and this number is increasing rapidly. This is because of the unique tendency of carbon to form bonds with successive carbon atoms known as catenation. Organic compound exhibit covalent bonding and are stable compounds. Organic compounds which consist of mostly carbon and hydrogen are referred as hydrocarbons. The basic hydrocarbon is methane (CH4). Hybridization.. why and how? Video The atomic number of carbon is 6 and the electronic configuration is as follows: Ground State configuration: [1S2 2S2 2Px1 2Py1 2Pz0] As per the electronic configuration, there are 4 electrons in the valence shell; out of which 2 are paired and 2 are unpaired. So the valance of carbon must be two as there are two unpaired electrons. But actually the valence of carbon is four. Now the question arising here is why? and how?