ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Parent hydride

Okay kiddo, let me tell you about parent hydride. You know what a hydride is, right? It's a molecule made up of hydrogen and another element, like water is made of hydrogen and oxygen. Well, a parent hydride is a special kind of hydride. It's the hydride that has the most hydrogen atoms compared to the other hydrides in a group of elements.

Let's say you have a family of elements called Group 14, which includes carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, and lead. Each of these elements can form a hydride with hydrogen. For example, carbon can form methane (CH4), silicon can form silane (SiH4), and so on.

The parent hydride for Group 14 is methane (CH4). This is because methane has the most hydrogen atoms compared to the other hydrides in Group 14. For example, silane (SiH4) has only 4 hydrogen atoms, while methane has 4 hydrogen atoms PLUS one carbon atom. So, methane is the parent hydride for Group 14.

Why is this important? Well, scientists use the concept of parent hydrides to predict the properties of other hydrides in the same group of elements. They know that the properties of the other hydrides will be similar to the parent hydride, but with some differences depending on the other element in the hydride.

So there you have it, kiddo! A parent hydride is the hydride with the most hydrogen atoms in a group of elements, and scientists use it to predict the properties of other hydrides in the same group. Cool, huh?
Related topics others have asked about: