Difference Between Organic And Inorganic Chemistry

When we talk about chemistry in General, we divide it into two major branches of study: inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry. Each of these divisions studies specific substances and phenomena that have well-defined characteristics.

Inorganic chemistry studies the chemical elements, their characteristics, their forms of combination, their interactions and reactions; as well as the basic substances and the behavior and structure of atoms.

For its part, organic chemistry studies all the compounds related to biological organisms, in which predominates as the main structural element carbon, which is why it is also called carbon. However, this does not mean that carbon has not been studied by inorganic chemistry, but rather that the type of Carbon-containing substances belong to different fields depending on whether they are part of biological molecules or not.

In this sense, we have substances such as carbon monoxide and dioxide (CO and CO₂), which, due to their characteristics and origin, are a matter of inorganic chemistry, since they come from oxidation processes. The same happens with substances such as carbonic acid (CO

₃H₂) or calcium carbonate (CaCO₃). In all these cases, the carbon-containing molecules act as independent molecules that accumulate in mineral deposits or may be dissolved in water.

On the other hand, when we talk about carbon from the point of view of organic chemistry, its study is based mainly on its relationship with hydrogen, the oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, as the main elements of biological molecules that have as a base or molecular skeleton the molecules of carbon. In addition, inorganic chemistry also studies various substances that have carbon as the main element, which forms chains to which other elements are attached. Some of these substances are hydrocarbons, organic acids, alcohols and proteins.

The differences between organic and inorganic chemistry are:

Inorganic chemistry:

Study the elements in general and their structure

Study the reaction and interaction between elements and compounds.

It is mainly used for industrial and manufacturing processes

Molecules are formed that can be heavy, but behave individually

Organic chemistry:

Study carbon and its relationship with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, mainly

Study the behavior and interaction between the various organic substances.

It is used for the production of food, medicine and fuel

Some molecules can be combined with each other, resulting in new molecules with longer chains