Organic Chemistry
Terminology:
- Atom a unit of an element consisting of protons, neutrons, electrons. Atoms are the fundamental building blocks that make up chemicals. An individual atom by itself is not considered a chemical, but atoms combine to form chemicals through chemical bonding.
- Chemical is a substance made up from two or more atoms bonded together. They can be an element (made of only one type of atom) or a compound (made of two or more different types of atoms).
Carbon is considered the backbone of organic chemistry and the basis for organic compounds due to its unique ability to form long chains and diverse structures through covalent bonding (bonded by sharing electron pairs between atoms), as a apposed to ionic bonds (electrons are transferred, not shared).
Carbon is everywhere! It’s the 4th most abundant element in the world. 18% of the human body is made up of carbon since it’s how proteins, carbs, lipids, and nucleic acids are created. It’s also the backbone for coal, oil, natural gas and to provide energy to living organisms.
The sharing of electron pairs between the atoms with covalent bonding is how organic compounds are able to build such large chains and thus organisms. So for each bond there are 2 electrons being shared, therefore a triple bond would share 6 electrons. They can be shared equally or unequally.
Inorganic compound is is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds—that is, a compound that is not an organic compound