Pentane contains how many carbon atoms?

Pentane is an alkane, which is a type of hydrocarbon characterized by a chain of carbon atoms connected by single bonds. The name "pentane" specifically indicates the number of carbon atoms in its molecular structure. The prefix "pent-" translates to five, which directly informs us that there are five carbon atoms in a molecule of pentane. Alkanes are generally named following the IUPAC nomenclature system, where the prefixes denote the number of carbon atoms: "meth-" for one, "eth-" for two, "prop-" for three, "but-" for four, "pent-" for five, and so on. Therefore, pentane having five carbon atoms aligns perfectly with these naming conventions.