Answer to Question #126802 in Atomic and Nuclear Physics for Raj Tiwari

Question

all organic compounds contain carbon but all carbon containing are not organic why?

Answer 1

We should take into account some historic reasons of considering the compound as organic or not organic. In 19th century, for example, scientists thought that it needs some vital force to transform the inorganic compound into organic. So some kinds of simple carbon-containing compounds, such as carbonates or carbids, are called inorganic. More complex modifications of carbon such as fullerenes are also called inorganic. But more complex molecules containing carbon, such as methane, other hydrocarbons were called organic. But now we know that organic compounds can be created in laboratories, not only in organisms, so the difference vanishes.