Ball-and-stick models of the methane molecule

Methane is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an economically attractive fuel, although capturing and storing it poses technical challenges due to its gaseous state under normal conditions for temperature and pressure. Methane is a tetrahedral molecule with four equivalent carbon-hydrogen bonds. Its electronic structure is described by four bonding molecular orbitals resulting from the overlap of the valence orbitals on carbon and hydrogen. Methane is an odorless gas and appears to be colorless. It does absorb visible light especially at the red end of the spectrum due to overtone bands, but the effect is only noticeable if the light path is very long. This is what gives Uranus and Neptune their blue or bluish-green colors, as light passes through their atmospheres containing methane and is then scattered back out.

Contributor: Junjie Chen, ORCID: 0000-0001-5055-4309, E-mail address: komcjj@gmail.com, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, 2000 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, P.R. China