Organic Compounds Flashcards, test questions and answers

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What is Organic Compounds?

Organic compounds are molecules that contain carbon and hydrogen atoms, with most additionally containing oxygen, nitrogen, or other elements. These compounds are the basis of life on Earth, driving photosynthesis and respiration in plants, fueling growth in animals, and providing humans with the food we need to survive. Organic compounds have many uses in everyday life; for example, they can be found in clothing fibers such as cotton and wool; fuel sources like methane gas; pharmaceuticals like aspirin; cleaning products like bleach; plastics like polypropylene; explosives like TNT; and much more.Organic compounds are formed from a wide range of elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus. They are classified based on their functional groups (e.g., alcohols, alkanes or ketones) which determine their behavior and properties. Carbon is the backbone element of all organic molecules which form strong bonds with other elements to form complex structures. Carbon-based molecules can form linear chains (alkanes), branched chains (alkenes), rings (aromatic hydrocarbons) or three-dimensional structures (macromolecules). The properties of organic molecules depend on their structure and functional groups present within them. Organic compounds are essential building blocks for life on Earth as they form proteins that provide structure for cells as well as enzymes that catalyze chemical reactions within organisms’ bodies. Additionally due to their versatile chemical properties organic chemicals provide an array of useful applications ranging from medicine to industry production processes such as making plastics or synthetic fabrics. Therefore understanding organic chemistry is important not only at biological level but also at industrial level since it provides us with a means to produce materials necessary for our survival and development of new technologies.