Organic Chemistry Essay

There has been much excitement about the latest science news in which a remote controlled airplane was flown using seawater fuel. The U.S. Navy created the fuel by taking carbon dioxide and hydrogen from seawater and combing them to create an organic compound called a hydrocarbon, which can be used for energy. I believe this is a really an amazing discovery since the earth has a lot of seawater to use as fuel. The oil, gas and coal we currently use as fuel will not last forever. The possible use of seawater as future source of fuel is just one of many applications of organic compounds, compounds which contain carbon molecules. Carbon is a unique element because it has the ability to form many compounds with itself and with other nonmetal elements like oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorous. Carbon has four electrons on its outer shell, which leaves four electrons available to create covalent bonds with other carbon molecules and other various elements. Carbon’s unique properties include forming single, double and triple bonds which can combine with other atoms, forming chains which can combine with other elements and forming isomers, which are molecules that have similar composition as the original molecule but a different arrangement of its atoms. Organic compounds, which have been found naturally or have been made synthetically by chemists, make our life much easier. Some of the many applications of organic chemistry are in medicine, energy sources and industry.

One of the most important uses of organic compounds is in medicine. All living things have four organic molecules - carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. Without carbon chains and nucleic acids, DNA would not exist. Enzymes which produce chemica...

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...o lakes and killing fish and the harmful chemicals we breathe from plastics. Therefore, scientists all over the world study organic compounds for research to get as many benefits as they can and to stop the harmful effects of using organic compounds. Scientists test how food should be stored and prepared so we do not get sick. Nutritionists study the proper diet for maximum chemical processes in the body. Environmental scientists show how human activity affects the environment. Forensic scientists test samples from people, plants and soil to find contamination or poisons. Even in the jungles of the Amazon, the people know how to use organic compounds to heal sicknesses. They may not call it organic chemistry, but essentially it is the same thing, the study of carbon compounds. As long as there is life on earth, there will always be a place for organic chemistry.