4 ms·
Are buckyballs organic?
by HappySweeney 7mo ago
Are buckyballs organic?
- dekhn 7mo agoYes! Not sure why you're asking- things don't have to be created by biological processes to be organic (this concept is totally unrelated to "organic" in the supermarket).
- andrewflnr 7mo agoFormally, yes. "Organic chemistry" is not too far off a synonym for "chemistry with carbon involved".
- IAmBroom 7mo ago"Not too far off" = "exactly defined as".
- andrewflnr 7mo agoI wasn't sure if there were any weird edge cases, but yeah.
- dekhn 7mo agoI mean, I don't think diamonds are considered "organic"; same for graphite. But that's where the term "organic" itself starts to break down as a category.
- andrewflnr 7mo agoI was also thinking carbonates in a geologic context.
- IAmBroom 7mo agoWikipedia: "Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials (i.e. matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms)." It doesn't break down at all. Diamonds are organic structures, in the classical definition of that term. (Assuming they weren't treated with insecticides in the mine... /s)
- dekhn 7mo agoI don't think wikipedia is the best reference here, and I think you're also misinterpreting them; not all carbon-containing substances (including diamond) are considered organic. There is no true classical definition of the term- it's actually a fairly nebulous concept. Ultimately you're just arguing about definitions which is not particularly interesting.
- SAI_Peregrinus 7mo agoCO, CO2, carbonate salts like Na2CO3, or CaCO3, and cyanides like HCN, NaCN, and KCN are usually considered inorganic compounds instead of organic compounds, despite containing carbons. But the vast majority of carbon-containing compounds are considered organic, and there are no organic compounds that don't contain carbon.
- fc417fc802 7mo ago> there are no organic compounds that don't contain carbon It's very much nitpicking and an edge case but now you've got me wondering if some silicone hydrocarbon analogs might not qualify. Noting that we have plausible theories about the feasibility of silicone based life.
- andrewflnr 7mo ago> we have plausible theories about the feasibility of silicone based life. ... Do we? Last I heard those weren't really viable due to some combination of being too stable or too unstable in all the available solvents.
- fc417fc802 7mo agoMaybe I'm out of date then. They looked plausible when I read about them years ago.