Help Please! Organic Versus Inorganic!!

[forensicstudent]

Detailing the differences between organic and inorganic evidence at a crime scene and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each.

 

:):eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

[freeztar]

Detailing the differences between organic and inorganic evidence at a crime scene and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each.

 

:):eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

Is this an assignment?

 

In any case, I'd urge you to look up both organic and inorganic on wiki for starters.

 

Once you have a firm grasp of those terms, or if you already do, then let us know what you're thinking and we can go from there. :)

[UncleAl]

An organic compound must simultaneously satisfy three criteria:

 

1) It must contain the element carbon.

2) It must be a compound - at least one other element must be stoichiometrically combined. Diamond, graphite, fullerenes... are not organic.

3) There must be at least one C-H and/or C-C bond per formula unit.

 

Aluminum carbide is inorganic, calcium carbide is organic.

 

Everything else is formally inorganic. Forensics can define them any why it pleases for the convenience of the District Attorney. The criminal judical system is not about guilt or innocence. The criminal judicial system is about revenue and political advantage.

[Michaelangelica]

So UncleAl, is everything n the periodical table 'inorganic"?

[freeztar]

The OP question is a bit obfuscated by the different definitions of 'organic' vs. 'inorganic'.

 

For Biology, organic means that something has carbon. In chemistry, it's a bit different. Any organic compound must still contain carbon, but must also have certain bonds (C-C and C-H), according to Uncle Al. (Uncle Al, would you mind expanding upon this?)

 

The original definition of "organic" chemistry came from the misconception that organic compounds were always related to life processes. However, organic molecules can be produced by processes not involving life. Life as we know it also depends on inorganic chemistry. For example, many enzymes rely on transition metals such as iron and copper; and materials such as shells, teeth and bones are part organic, part inorganic in composition. Apart from elemental carbon, only certain classes of carbon compounds (such as oxides, carbonates, and carbides) are conventionally considered inorganic.

[UncleAl]

So UncleAl, is everything n the periodical table 'inorganic"?

 

All elements and all their allotropes are inorganic and not compounds, obviously.

[UncleAl]

There is nothing to expand. Al4C3 hydrolyzes to methane. CaC2 hydrolyzes to acetylene and contains discrete -C#C- ions. You've got carbon, you've got a carbon compound, you've got a C-C triple bond. It's organic. Melamine and cyanuric acid are obviously inorganic, as is urea: no C-C or C-H bond in any of them. Friedrich Wöhler was wrong (though politically correct). The first true organics were made earlier, by passing carbon monoxide over KOH/red hot charcoal, to make carbocyclic acids [-C(OH)=C(OH)-[C=O]n-]; deltic (n=1), squaric (n=2), croconic (n=3), rhodizonic (n=4) acids.