Organic Chemistry Overview

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What is organic chemistry?

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The study of the compounds of carbon.

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How many structures have been identified in organic chemistry?

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Over 10 million structures, with about 1000 new ones identified each day.

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What are the common elements found in organic molecules?

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Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur, and halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine).

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What is the significance of Friedrich Wöhler's discovery in 1828?

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He synthesized urea, an organic compound, from ammonium cyanate, challenging the theory of vitalism.

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What does the term 'organic' mean in the context of food?

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It refers to food grown without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

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What is the octet rule?

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The tendency for an atom to achieve a configuration where its valence shell contains eight electrons.

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What are the two extreme forms of bonding between atoms?

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Ionic bond (complete transfer of electrons) and covalent bond (sharing of electrons).

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What is electronegativity?

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A measure of the ability of an atom to attract electrons.

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What is a covalent bond?

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A bond formed by sharing electrons between atoms of similar electronegativities.

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What are Lewis structures?

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Representations of molecules showing all valence electrons, with unshared pairs as dots and shared pairs as lines.