Describe the nature of water and chemical reactions and the special characteristic of carbon.

Water is often referred to as H two O meaning it has two
atoms of oxygen combined with one atom of hydrogen with a chemical formula of H2O (the 2
should be a subscript when normally written).

One of the
basic rules of chemistry is that matter is never created or destroyed during a chemical
reaction. This is called the law of conservation of mass. This means that in a chemical
reaction between elements, or elements and compounds, some chemical bonds are broken and
new ones are formed.

In reference to your second question,
atoms with electrical charges - called ions - are sometimes neutralized during certain
types of chemical reactions but the atoms themselves are not neutralized but are
definitely rearranged.

Carbon is unique because it can form
multiple bonds with itself and with everyone of the non-metal elements on the periodic
table. The result is that there are more compounds containing carbon than all the other
compounds formed from all of the other elements combined.