I don't think you need to do ions, but you do need to know how many electrons are in a single/double/triple. You need to know that a double bond consists of a pi and sigma bond but no deeper I think.
C-C is stronger. An atom of C is smaller than an atom of Si, so outermost electron of one C is closer to the other C atoms nucleus giving a higher attraction and therefore a stronger bond.
Ugh wording it is a painnnn
You are given samples of CH3COOH, CH3CHO and CH3CH2OH in unlabelled bottles. What tests would you use to identify which is which and explain the results you would expect.