The foundation for inorganic and organic chemistry is organic and inorganic compounds. Organic chemists research, evaluate and observe the reactions of organic compounds. Several other compounds, like salts, metal, and minerals, are examined by inorganic chemists.
Organic vs Inorganic Compounds
The main difference between Organic and Inorganic Compounds is that organic compounds often have the element carbon while this molecule is absent in most inorganic compounds.
However, inorganic substances containing carbon cannot be classified as organic because the amount of carbon is negligible! Organic compounds comprise carbon atoms bound to hydrogen atoms to create the C-H bonds, with slight deviations. Several organic compounds have oxygen atoms.
Comparison Table Between Organic and Inorganic Compounds (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of Comparison | Organic | Inorganic |
|---|---|---|
| Presence of carbon atom | They are distinguished by carbon atoms which are present in them | Inorganic substances do not comprise carbon atoms |
| Reactivity | They are considered to be more reactive and extremely flammable | They are naturally not volatile and are also not flammable |
| Physical state | These substances occur as gases, liquids, and solids. | They solely occur as solids |
| Occurrence | Organic substances are present predominantly in most living organisms | They majorly occur in non-living organisms |
| Melting and boiling points | High melting and boiling points are among the main aspects used to characterize organic substances. | Compared to organic substances, these are characterized by low boiling and melting points. |
What are Organic Compounds?
These are any chemical substances that contain carbon. Numerous organic substances are identified because of the capacity of the carbon to catenate (form chains of certain carbon atoms). The study referred to as organic chemistry includes the evaluation of the structures and reactions of organic compounds.
While organic compounds make up just a tiny percentage of the Earth‘s surface, they are of essential significance because organic compounds are the source of all known life.
Living organisms integrate inorganic carbon compounds into organic compounds through a channel of mechanisms (the carbon cycle) starting with the processing of carbon dioxide and supply of hydrogens such as water into simple sugars and other organic molecules, utilizing light (photosynthesis) or other energy sources.
Do all Organic compounds come from life?
What you need to be aware of is that not all organic substances come from life. Many organic compounds are created inside living organisms but molecules can be generated through other processes.
For instance, organic compounds discovered on Mars or within a nebula aren’t indicators of alien existence. Solar radiation may provide the energy required to convert inorganic compounds into organic matter.
What are Inorganic Compounds?
Simply stated, the inverse of an organic compound is an inorganic compound. To understand more how inorganic compounds are classified, first of all, it helps to learn what makes certain compounds organic.
An inorganic compound can be referred to as a compound not having a carbon-to-hydrogen bond, also referred to as a C-H bond. Besides, inorganic substances appear to be minerals or substances not having carbon-to-hydrogen bonds, based on geology.
Not all, but most inorganic compounds have one metal in them.
What are the Characteristics of inorganic compounds?
Although several inorganic compounds comprise any form of metal (alkali, alkaline, etc.), they tend to be capable of electrical conduction. For instance, inorganic compounds are weak conductors of electricity when they are in a solid-state.
However inorganic materials are particularly conductive in the liquid form. In this step, the electrons in inorganic compounds will move very easily and this electron movement is recognized as electricity.
Inorganic compounds are bound together very rigidly owing to the ionic bonding usually contained in them and exhibit very high melting and boiling points. The color is another distinguishing feature of inorganic compounds.
Transition metal inorganic compounds are typically strongly colored, and this is again attributed to the ‘d-block’ electrons arrangement.
The vivid and colorful colors that one sees as fireworks burst are linked to the inorganic metal that is found in the compound (usually an alkali or alkaline one).
Since inorganic compounds exhibit a distinctive color when burning, this can be used to classify the metal involved. In this scenario, they are used as a ‘marker.’
Inorganic materials are often commonly easily soluble in water. Which is to say, when put in water, they can ‘disappear’ because they dissolve. A capacity to form crystals is yet another surprising characteristic of inorganic compounds.
The bonding structure contained in inorganic compounds gives them the potential to produce crystals in saturated solutions.
Main Differences Between Organic and Inorganic Compounds
- Organic substances are hydrocarbons because they are produced solely from carbon and hydrogen, whereas inorganic substances are not made up of carbon.
- Carbon(II)oxide, water, and carbon(IV)oxide are the products produced when organic compounds burn while inorganic compounds typically do not burn but when they do, they often produce a cation oxide and a cation nitride.
- Organic substances are generated from living organisms while inorganic compounds are generated either by non-living natural mechanisms or by human experimental activities.
- Salts are produced by inorganic compounds while organic compounds cannot generate salts.
- Organic substances are bonded by carbon-hydrogen bonds while inorganic substances are bonded by ionic, covalent and metallic bonds.
- Inorganic substances are characterized by the presence of n metal atoms while organic compounds do not contain metal atoms.
Conclusion
Many synthetically generated organic compounds are primarily extracted from petrochemicals composed mostly of hydrocarbons, which themselves are produced over geological time scales by the high pressure and temperature degradation of underground organic matter.
Notwithstanding this ultimate derivation, organic compounds as they were previously, are no longer classified as compounds originating in living organisms.
There are numerous compounds which come under the inorganic category. Indeed, in this universe, the majority of all compounds are inorganic. Despite this reason, inorganic materials have an immense number of real-world applications and functional uses.
Since most of the substances in this universe are inorganic, these substances can take on a variety of forms and contain several specific characteristics. Well, all you need to do is to go through this entire write-up carefully and you won’t have any problems in differentiating these two compounds. Cheers!
References
- https://ebme.marine.rutgers.edu/HistoryEarthSystems/HistEarthSystems_Fall2008/Week2/Kwok_Nature_2004.pdf
- https://academic.oup.com/carcin/article-abstract/2/4/283/2389968