An overwhelming majority of what we eat is made from plants and animals. This means that composition of our almost entire food is chemicals from the realm of organic chemistry (carbon-based large molecules). Water and salt are two prominent examples of non-organic foodstuffs - which come from the realm of inorganic chemistry. Beside some medicines is there any more non-organic foods? Can we eat rocks, salts, metals, oxides… and I just don’t know that?

  • WhoRoger@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Lots of vitamins and additives are fairly simple chemistry. C vitamin for example is ascorbic acid, easy to synthetise. Although it does consist of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which technically makes it an organic compound, so it depends on your definition of organic. OLED screens aren’t called organic because they’re grown, but because there are organic compounds in their composition.

    And that’s really the case for everything. Life at the end uses just chemical processes like burning and dilution, and we can do almost anything in a lab. We’re just usually not as effective. Glucose is the simplest sugar and easy to make, but just harvesting it from a plant is still much cheaper.

    Anyway, you probably could ingest some tiny particles of iron oxide to get your iron, I guess.

    • Radio_717@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Modern definition of Organic as it pertains to chemistry is any compound that contains BOTH hydrogen AND carbon.

      Edit: Vitamins in general including absorbed acid are organic compounds because they contain both carbon and hydrogen atoms.

      Edit2- I left out a key piece of information. The carbon and hydrogen need to be covalently bonded as well not just part of the compound.

        • Radio_717@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Your link claims any compound with carbon is organic (there are exceptions listed) which really doesn’t fit either since there so many exceptions.

          I was glib with my organic chemistry because it’s not just hydrogen atoms specifically but more the covalent bond between carbon and hydrogen that makes it organic so they have to be bonded covalently to be considered organic.

          There’s still exceptions to this definition but they’re far fewer and usually only found in extremely unstable compounds like the fully halogenated fringe cases you mentioned in another comment.

      • schmidtster@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        So adding anything to water would there-for make it organic…? I don’t think that definition works…

        • Radio_717@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Just adding something to water doesn’t make it a compound. Adding something to water makes it a solution.

            • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Compound is absolutely different than solution. That’s not a varying definition amongst scientists. Compounds have a meaning. There’s no ambiguity. Organic compounds have a very nebulous definition and there isn’t consensus. One such meaning does include most hydrogen carbon compounds. Others include carbon-carbon based compounds (but by definition, a compound requires more than one element, so diamond for example does not fit). You’re correct in pointing out nuance for the meaning of organic. You’re just digging a hole trying to defend the idea the other person’s statement could be interpreted as adding anything to water makes it organic.