"Carbon prefers to share its valence electrons with other atoms of carbon or with atoms of other elements rather than gaining or losing the valence electrons in order to attain noble gas configuration." Give reasons to justify this statement.

Carbon has an atomic number of 6 with an electronic configuration of 2, 4. To achieve a stable noble gas configuration, it needs to either gain or lose 4 electrons, or share them. It prefers sharing due to the following reasons:

1. Difficulty in gaining 4 electrons ($C^{4-}$): If carbon were to gain 4 electrons to form a $C^{4-}$ anion, it would be extremely difficult for its nucleus, which has only 6 protons, to hold on to 10 electrons (i.e., 4 extra electrons) due to strong inter-electronic repulsion.
2. Difficulty in losing 4 electrons ($C^{4+}$): If carbon were to lose 4 electrons to form a $C^{4+}$ cation, it would require a very large amount of energy to overcome the nuclear attraction and remove 4 electrons, leaving behind a highly unstable carbon cation with 6 protons holding on to just 2 electrons.

Thus, carbon overcomes this energy barrier by sharing its 4 valence electrons with other carbon atoms or atoms of other elements, forming stable covalent bonds.