An overwhelming majority of what we eat is made from plants and animals. This means that composition of our almost entire food is chemicals from the realm of organic chemistry (carbon-based large molecules). Water and salt are two prominent examples of non-organic foodstuffs - which come from the realm of inorganic chemistry. Beside some medicines is there any more non-organic foods? Can we eat rocks, salts, metals, oxides… and I just don’t know that?

  • Radio_717@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Calcium carbonate is inorganic because it doesn’t contain hydrogen. Organic compound must have both carbon and hydrogen atoms.

    Edit- more specifically the hydrogen and carbon should be covalently bonded and there are still a few exceptions as noted by other comments below.

    • Beardliest@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s a false statement. It needs to have carbon-hydrogen non-ionic bonds for it to be organic. Think carbonic acid vs a ketone of some sort.

    • Eheran@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Calcium carbonate is inorganic because it is a simple salt. Containing hydrogen has nothing to do with it. Ca(HCO3)2 is just as inorganic.

      If you think a molecule needs to contain both H and C to be organic, then fully halogenated propane is inorganic, but as soon as one of the 8 halogen atoms is not substituted it suddenly is organic again. This gets even more absurd with larger molecules like oleic acid C18H34O2. 34 chlorine replacing all H? Inorganic. 33? Organic.

      • Radio_717@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        None of those compounds would be stable. Theoretically you’re making a good point for an exception to C-H bonds defining organic chemistry but I bet all of your fully halogenated compounds would degrade and break apart until some number of hygrogens replace the halogens to make it stable.

        Point taken tho.

        • Eheran@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          What do you mean would not be stable…? They are more stable than then hydrogenated versions. PTFE is essentially only C and F in endless chain of [CF2].

    • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Organic compounds don’t have a strict consensus based definition today. So any matter of fact statement isn’t widely held any longer. It’s just one school of thought so to speak.

      • Radio_717@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You’re right- primarily because science changes as new things are discovered and therefore the definition changes.

        I still think the definition I learned with C-H covalent bonds indicating organic has fewer exceptions than other definitions.