Backbone polymers germanium-carbon

Group IVA starts with carbon, which is a nonmetal, followed by silicon and germanium, which are metalloids (semimetals), and tin and lead, which are metals. All of the group IVA elements have the ability to catenate however, as you move down the group, this ability decreases. Some of the more important inorganic polymers are polysilanes, in which there are repeat Si-Si units in the polymer backbone. However, the bond energy of Si Si bonds is 222 kJ/mol, while the... 

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