What are compounds with the same number of carbon and hydrogen atoms called?
monomers
alcohols
hydrocarbons
isomers
Even compounds with the same number of carbon and hydrogen atoms can have different shapes. These compounds are called isomers . Look at the examples in Figure below . The figure shows the structural formulas of butane and its isomer iso -butane. Both molecules have four carbon atoms and ten hydrogen atoms (C 4 H 10 ), but the atoms are arranged differently. Butane is a straight-chain molecule. Iso -butane is branched. You can see three-dimensional models of these two isomers at the URLs below. You can rotate the molecule models to get a better idea of their shapes.