Hydrocarbons are of different types. Depending upon the types of carbon-carbon bonds present, they can be classified into three main categories:
Saturated hydrocarbons contain carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen single bonds. If different carbon atoms are joined together to form open chain of carbon atoms with single bonds, they are termed as alkanes as you have already studied in Unit 8. On the other hand, if carbon atoms form a closed chain or a ring, they are termed as cycloalkanes.
Unsaturated hydrocarbons contain carbon-carbon multiple bonds double bonds, triple bonds or both.
Aromatic hydrocarbons are a special type of cyclic compounds. You can construct a large number of models of such molecules of both types (open chain and close chain) keeping in mind that carbon is tetravalent and hydrogen is monovalent. For making models of alkanes, you can use toothpicks for bonds and plasticine balls for atoms. For alkenes, alkynes and aromatic hydrocarbons, spring models can be constructed.
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