IDTIMWYTIM: "Organic"

In the world of chemistry, an "organic" compound is often described as anything with carbon in it, and "organic chemistry" is the study of carbon compounds, but there is actually no single definition of what "organic" means in chemistry, and scientists have been arguing about it for a long time. In this edition of "I Don't Think It Means What You Think It Means," Hank does his best to illuminate the confusion so we can better understand what "organic" means (or doesn't mean) to chemists.
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[@ikeikeforty]

I wasn't confused, and now I am.

[@goldwolf0606]

Eric Taylor No offense but this was a STUPID episode. In SCIENCE, Organic chemistry is the study of carbon living or inanimate. No debate. Everyone that thinks otherwise is wrong. Science seeks out the truth and so study of carbon it is. Why can't you just tell people the truth? Is evolution real or is it debatable??? Come on bro, you're better than that. All that other mumbo jumbo is a waste of people's time. It confuses them like this fellow you responded to. Also, Can you please stop speaking like you have no air in your lungs? You don't do it all the time but It's rather annoying when you do it. And it's not like a lisp that you can't control, it's something that is random as hell, I can tell you did it on purpose and it drives me insane! It's like hearing an owl hoot when you're trying to go to sleep. When I'm trying to learn from you and you do that it's freaking annoying and It detracts from the info you bless the world with.

[@phenomenalphysics3548]

You said so much in a sentence the more we try to learn the more it gets complex bt we still don't give up ugh we humans are so addicted to learn (I was talking about Quantum mechanics)

[@shadowprince4482]

"Carbon is a tramp" I really want that on a t-shirt.

[@michaelgrey1503]

The funny thing about IDTIMWYTIM is the fact that, since all of the words that make up the initialization are one syllable long and W is two syllables, I Don't Think It Means What You Think It Means is shorter to say than all of the individual letters of it's initialization.

[@hotdog2841]

To be fair it is shorter of you're spelling it out

[@nothisispatrick2954]

Same thing goes for World Wide Web. WWW has 9 syllables whilst World Wide Web has 3! I think it's to make it easier to type

[@burgersnchips]

Probably explains "dubdubdubdot"

[@d.e.b.b5788]

+Michael Grey Want another one? Back in 1990, I had been working in emergency rooms for 19 years. We called a gun shot wound, a gun shot wound: Three syllables. Then the TV show E.R. came on, and the writers started having the characters saying Gee Ess double you. As if they were abbreviating something, or talking in some type of professional 'code'. But gun shot wound is three syllables, and gee ess double you is five. Thanks to the TV show, then we had real life people start doing this ridiculous behavior. And it continues to this day. All because some idiot decided that gee ess double you sounded more professional, i.e., exact, than GUN SHOT WOUND. What a bunch of morons.

[@blokestuff]

Michael Grey - Sorry to be a tardy pedant, but isn't W three syllables, not two..? Profuse apologies, again, I couldn't just ignore it... 🙄

[@onesunghero]

gas and oil used to be alive at one point, which makes it organic. or at least the organic residue of life.

[@Xeno426]

Same can be said of carbon dioxide, though. The carbon in carbon dioxide came from the sugar and fats that the body used to make energy. So the question of where your fat goes when you "burn" it, the answer is that a lot of it is exhaled.

[@kindlin]

Were you to have asked me 10 minutes ago, is carbon dioxide an organic carbon molecule, I probably would have said yes. Now, I'm not too sure, but am still leaning towards yes. I need to know what other process form C02. I know fire does, but that also seems pretty organic, in many senses. If the primary source of CO2 was inorganic I may be swayed, but it seems to me that most CO2 comes from something currently or primevally organic.

[@Nerobyrne]

"organic food" hmm, where do you keep the inorganic food?

[@d.e.b.b5788]

It's food made of metal, you fool. Now go cook me my alumiburger and potasitaters. And put plenty of NaCl on both. Thank you.

[@Adjuni]

In Sweden we call "organic" food Ecological. As in ecologically grown without the use of man made pesticides.

[@Nerobyrne]

Adjuni That actually makes sense. In Germany we call it "bio", as opposed to non-biological food I guess .... Well, at least there you can sort of make a case for "non-biological ingredients". It still kinda sounds silly to me.

[@kev3d]

In the salt shaker.

[@technobabble_]

While nothing was resolved, I was bombarded with lots of information. I feel like that's what Science is all about, thank you.

[@IulianusTabernarius]

Well since the whole concept of organic is based on the discredited belief in vitalism I prefer the definition used by my professors which is simply any hydrocarbon. So yeah, Gasoline is organic. In fact, that's one of my favorite Jokes, Gasoline is organic, and water is an inorganic chemical called dihydrogen monoxide. In fact, I could take it a step further, we know where gasoline comes from, long dead carboniferous plant matter. Water on the other hand has existed for longer than this solar system, and the hydrogen in it for the entire age of the universe. I can't think of anything that could be less organic than that... I mean hydrogen is just a proton, its barely even an element, and exists primarily as plasma in stars or nebulous clouds in interstellar space. Oil on the other hand, that exists in conditions favorable to life, on this planet, and can even be synthesized from algae... Also I realize there are clouds of methane on titan but that's actually one of the things scientists are looking for on planets because it may indicate the presence of life or provide the conditions for it, being similar to our early methane rich world before the cyanobacteria went crazy and started releasing all that toxic O2

[@jonahkolar6345]

I'd like to see a IDTIMWYTIM on what "observer" means in quantum physics

[@IamGrimalkin]

Do you want a video with a long explanation essentially saying "I dunno"?

[@Unakanon]

...so if I wanted to open a chain of 'inorganic grocery stores'...

[@joshuahadams]

You'd sell mostly salt, I'd assume.

[@Tesrob]

Glad you made this video because I've never heard an origin/naming story for organic molecules even though I've taken several organic chemistry classes

[@IamBHM]

Thanks for increasing my understanding of what organic means while simultaneously decreasing the FEELING that I understand of what organic means relative to how I felt before I watched this video.

[@StarWarsMG]

This freshmen at my school bought 6,000 organic stickers, giving them out to basically everyone, and now they're vandalizing the entire school. It was lit.

[@yunfeizheng5213]

What's an organic sticker?

[@lusuolan4071]

Ashley Hemze It's one of those stickers you find on organic foods at the supermarket. For example, organic apples or organic bananas.

[@fredgarvin4482]

the stickers had lights?

[@3fast5you]

When it comes to "organic" in food, I find the differences in some languages funny. Norwegian: Økologisk, French: Biologique, English: Organic They all mean "organic" (as in the hippie-food (no judgement, it's mainly what I buy)), but it looks more like (in english), ecological, biological and organic.

[@robertdetrich1200]

Wouldn't it be correct if not arguable that gasoline is organic indeed? It's the remains of organisms.

[@baranxlr]

It contains alkanes, which are organic.

[@benzenering2183]

Alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatic compounds and even more. To me, it's like the definition of carbohydrogens. When I see some structure of a carbohydrogen (like, for example, hexane), I immediately think of naphta and gasoline.

[@jeffm3774]

You're missing the point he's trying to make. Which is that there are conflicting definitions of organic. Some of those definitions don't apply to gasoline and some of them do.

[@sirjimbothefirst]

Good episode. I really enjoy this show. Keep up the good work!

[@philheaton1619]

I like to ask if foods that are not organic are inorganic, but this annoys people.

[@free_spirit1]

3:51 But I was always under the impression that gasoline WAS organic!

[@SotraEngine4]

And it was for some several thousand years ago, if you believe in darwinism.

[@GoldSrc_]

SotraEngine4 Why would you "believe" in darwinism?, you don't "believe" in facts, you accept them.

[@SotraEngine4]

Well you trust darwinism to be right. Some other people trust in other thing. For some weird reason they call it believe. What if Darwin was wrong? What if humans don't understand?

[@GoldSrc_]

SotraEngine4 Well, so far the theory of evolution makes sense, he could have been wrong but the evidence says he was right.

[@SotraEngine4]

But what about all the missing links they haven't found?

[@viktorm7672]

Obviously Hank is the hottest in the Twilight movies, right? Don't try to trick me, they used another guys face and skintone for Jacob, but I recognize those abs anywhere, Hank!

[@ericdavis7779]

You need more of this series

[@syystomu]

In Finland we call organic food "nature-compatible food" (luonnonmukainen, usually shortened to luomu). It might not make much more sense but at least it doesn't get confused with chemistry. Thanks for the episode, this time I really had the definition wrong and I learned something! (I thought it was all carbon compounds.)

[@ryoseah6364]

So when i buy something in the supermarket that is organic what exactly am i paying for? It cost so much more and i have always suspected that it was bullshit so i stopped buying

[@BunkerStrategist]

Technically you were right in thinking it was bullshit. Organic in the food industry just means that they are not "genetically modified", something completely false since all foods eaten by humans at this point that are either plants or domesticated meats have been genetically altered due to a process called selective breeding, the exact same thing that GMOs have done just spread across a longer period of time and with 0 knowledge of what is actually going on. Top it off with the fact that most organic foods usually contain less of everything it's nowhere near paying more. It's just a bunch of people who don't want to switch to better crops due to cost and try and justify the bigger cost of worse crops with a fallacy of it being special.

[@acidophilus88]

+BunkerStrategist It also means it wasn't sprayed with synthetic pesticides and grown without synthetic fertilizer which means less chance of consuming toxins and better health for farmers who grow your food and the environment.

[@z121231211]

+Still bigger than you | What organic means when buying groceries can be simplified to "uses unsustainable farming techniques." Organic food is for those that think scientific advancement is actually a bad thing. The only reason to buy organic is because of Monsanto's horrible businesses practices (and they are horrible enough to say "fuck science because business"). Monsanto aside, there's no reason to buy organic.

[@z121231211]

+Jeremy Seeker | What's wrong with synthetic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers? Do you actually believe scientists are trying to kill us and that the natural world isn't? A synthetic pesticide that kills pests but doesn't affect humans, and a synthetic fertilizer that helps give plants the exact traits humans want, is exactly what they're trying to make. Nicotine's a natural pesticide and manure's a natural fertilizer, that doesn't mean they're the best and safest that chemistry allows.

[@acidophilus88]

z121231211 No, I don't believe scientists are trying to kill us. Its the greed of the chemical and biotech companies that scares me when they care only about profit and the chemicals are dubiously safe because of the corporations power to get them approved. Of course some natural things can kill you and some synthetics are harmless but I trust good old fashioned manure over the latest newly developed chemicals even if they do turn out to be safe I'd rather stick with what has stood the test of time. You should read up on the soil erosion and the micro-nutrient depletion that results from modern farming. I trust methods that have been used for thousands of years over methods that are essentially new and the full effects not completely known yet. But what bothers me the most is animals and the way they are being treated of CAFO factory farms.

[@Ngamotu83]

3:53 Why shouldn't it include gasoline? That's derived from petroleum, which is undeniably organic considering where it comes from.

[@nelsonandrade375]

+Michael Gibb except oil isnt a "fossil fuel", that theory has been debunked long ago.

[@Ngamotu83]

Nelson Andrade What planet are you living on? The scientific consensus says that crude oil is a fossil fuel.

[@JugglingBlog]

+Michael Gibb Well, gasoline consists of many organic compounds. Gasoline is not a single molecule, so id call it a mix of organic compounds. But yeah, this video is bullshit, acutally most carbon-containing molecules are organic and there are very few exeptions.

[@fishface1001]

+Michael Gibb its true, they do originally come from plants and animals, but id argue that the organic compounds react with one another and form new ones under the high pressure in the crust. As he mentioned, organic molecules are found in living tissues and gasoline is not.

[@HotelPapa100]

That's the thing: Organic in chemistry does NOT mean coming from or existing in living things anymore. Petroleum chemistry and chemistry of plastics is most definitely considered organic chemistry. By everybody active in the respective industries, AFAIK. I mostly think of organic compounds as containing a chain of at least 2 Cs, and have a hard time classifying urea as organic, but that's just me. But then again, I'd make an exception for methane, as it's at the extreme end of short chains, reduced down to one link. Yes, I'm the prince of consequence...

[@lucyj5550]

Thank you SO much!!! I was so so so confused and this video resolved all my questions!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

[@PortalCubes]

Today I was taken home from school and told to just relax. This is my form of relaxing, watching scishow.

[@Emper0rH0rde]

Food snobs are some of the most obnoxious, holier-than-thou people on the face of the earth.

[@jacksonhilton617]

Since coal is made from ancient compressed plants, wouldn't it be organic?

[@dumbo800]

+Jackson “PiNerd2” Hilton Same deal with petroleum. I consider fossil fuels to be organic for this reason.

[@bigbenhebdomadarius6252]

They are. You are absolutely right.

[@HotelPapa100]

Coal (or rather: coke), being pure carbon, probably wouldn't be called organic (similar non-argument as CO2). But more complex compounds found in coal, such as tars, would.

[@Jogga1995]

Perfect timing, are having an test about this tomorrow :D Thank you :D

[@1drazmus]

I have been sub'ed since the beginning but have just started watching in the last few weeks. What have I been thinking? Great stuff!

[@TheSkullcrusher73]

Nothing is organic, everything is just made up of elements and compounds. Justifying everything as organic would just make everything confusing.

[@z121231211]

+Swarfly | While what you say is true, the study of organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry is fairly separate except for the edge cases. There's only debate over those edge cases, which should just be interdisciplinary at this point. Really the question is "would an organic chemist or an inorganic chemist be more interested in studying this molecule?"

[@Davidrobertwhittaker]

Strange video this. Things like 'gasoline' as you call it, coal etc are unambiguously part of organic chemistry.

[@TheEditingShop]

Sci Show: The high school science education I never had the pleasure of paying attention to.

[@Minifig666]

I've always gone with the rule, "Organic if it has a C-C bond, or is part of a homologous series which does." That rule has the odd exception, but, it's pretty solid.

[@louisvictor3473]

I think the definition of innorganic and organic is simply pointless and useless. The practicality of it goes away when we realize that different life forms (as defined) use different particles, and stuff that is good and natural to one is poisonous to another. The more we study bacteria and other life forms that live in extreme environments, the more it becomes a useless concept because the fewer the common substances they have. The only somewhat useful distinction would be closer to the bio areas where we study what is organic or not when talking about a specific species - now that kind of distinction can have some practical use and value. The definition is also preposterous because it assumes that life forms (or at least something with the semblance of life) has to be in the forms we are used to, and while there is no proof or disproof of that claim, there is already evidence to believe it is not true. Specially if we start from the assumption that life is only material because then there is no reason to not consider any sufficiently complex arrangement of matter, whatever the matter, that has capabilities similar to be alive, thus organic.

[@michaelweis4756]

Once again: "Aluminum"! Faceplant. Peeple tend to impress on me why Murica is something special... I'll give back all my diploma. Psychology, Paedagogy, Philosophy, Chemistry, Mathematics- who cares! Science on YT, 2016.

[@goatwithat]

Well I can tell you didn't get a degree in grammar! ;) On a more serious note, it doesn't really matter whether it's "aluminum" or "aluminium" (which I am guessing is how you pronounce it) kinda like how it doesn't really matter if it's "pajamas" or "pyjamas." It's just different.

[@michaelweis4756]

Dear Andrew is okay to me! I'm from splendid Europa, and am not a native speaker of the english tongue ... sincerely Michael

[@goatwithat]

+Michael Weis hahah it's fine I was just making a joke. As someone who is currently living somewhere where my first language isn't spoken that much I understand :)

[@michaelweis4756]

Well Andrew, I consider myself as an "near native speaker", I started babbling english at the age of three.Where are you at?

[@bigbenhebdomadarius6252]

It's worth noting that 'aluminum' was the original spelling, which the U.S. refused to give up when the name was changed to 'aluminium' in the rest of the world. It's a bit like how we also refused to go along when the rest of the world went metric.

[@rynieryarom4277]

Thank you soooo much my teachers dont understand this topic herself and this help me see it much clearer

[@meehsteerliijk]

They need a show like this in my native language. Everytime I finished watching these clips I have a 70% understanding of what he is talking about. Bothers the hell out of me.

[@moshikon44]

A proposal coming thru: I'm constantly battling people about the meaning of Asymmetric Warfare. So I would be only so happy if you could make a IDTIMWYTIM.

[@sraemusic]

You just got yourself another subscriber, sir.

[@MetildaCheeHengEr]

Gosh I freggin' love Hank and Scishow.

[@puncheex2]

Carbonic acid dissociates into water and CO2. Bicarbonate is an ion; there has to be a metal also in the water, such as sodium, calcium or ammonia. In the words of wikipedia, "bicarbonate is an intermediate form in the deprotonation of carbonic acid."

[@nateslovebug]

Absolutely. In Organic Chemistry we learned Esters, Ethers, Alcohols, why chirality is so important... But the definition I was given would have included those as well, we just didn't focus on them.

[@robertneal8244]

OK, so it Feb 2017, almost 4 years later. Has there been any updates to his information or and solid clear cut definition as to what's considered an organic compound and what isn't?

[@TheKingRammy]

I always learned that a compound at least had to include a H, a C and an O atom to be called "Organic"

[@brianburton1400]

I love your videos and was hoping you would do an episode of IDIMWYTIM about black holes. Almost everyone I talk to about the subject believes they are actual holes in space and while I'm not certain about this they should be roughly spherical like and other collection of matter in the universe and were poorly named in the first place.

[@45nickname]

best explanation so far.

[@tristanmasis]

You have good points right there and I want to add somethings: proof and fact are not synonyms of true... I said as far as we know they occur and we can perceive them, if something is not well understood that doesn't really disprove the theories, it really helps to develop and make a better theory...

[@Haraldur34]

Sugars, the stuff of life! Great as always, Scishow.

[@romantheflash]

My perception lecturer actually used "Organic Chemistry" In today's lecture about Gustation and Olfaction...SO YAY classification of the term :D Thank you Hank

[@rorywest]

The definition for organic that I prefer is "a molecule containing Carbon - Carbon bonds and/or Carbon - Hydrogen bonds". This keeps things like carbides, CO2, and carbonates from being considered organic while still allowing things like esters, proteins, lipids and sugars to be classified as organic.

[@newcovenantgrace12]

That was awesome!

[@f43d348k]

Arrrrr! I've been strugling with this one for a while - I was so happy when I saw this video in my feed, finally a resolution of this question... :(. Ah, well...

[@11510able]

taking organic chemistry in the fall, and came here to get a heads up on what i'll be studying.... now i'm more confused than ever! lol

[@JorgeStolfi]

Carbonate rocks and coal are produced by living organisms. The best definition that I have found is: organic compounds are those studied in Organich Chemistry departments of universities. Inorganic compounds are those studied in Inorganic Chemistry departments. It largely boils down to what reagents and apparatuses the chemist has on his or her bench...

[@erik.isomer]

The T-shirt gets me every time.

[@Glassjaw003]

Agreed. Organic Chemistry's beginning focus are simple Carbon chains which include Methane, Ethane, Propane, etc, which form alcohols that lead to Methanol, Ethanol, and such. But I would just assume Hank chose to word it in that way because the term is so varied. Many would say Organic Compounds contain Hydrocarbons and C-C bonds, as well as other Organic Elements such as Oxygen, while compounds like Graphite, and such, are strictly Carbon bonding.

[@skrimyt2484]

That "bam!" at the end is, somehow, always a surprise. I don't even know why.

[@DanThePropMan]

Please, PLEASE do an IDTIMWYTIM on the word "theory".

[@Jamminator]

Thanks Hank - Good topic. Thought of a series on cycles? Some good basic ones, water, nitrogen, etc. Then could move on to rock, energy and climate stuff.

[@isufan89]

best channel on youtube

[@endgame]

You should do a scishow on organic food vs processed food. Thanks :D

[@Mellech]

Still...why is carbon a tramp? "It can bond with 4 atoms at a time" I lol'd

[@cierrapickles]

this is awesome, i cause i was seriously wondering the other day what organic really meant.

[@Wouter10123]

Awesome, cheers!

[@scientific97]

Thank you so much.^^ Now it works well.

[@Quintinohthree]

"Can interact with life" is a really broad description, which would definitely include pretty much anything. Taking it a slight bit narrower as you do here as any compound that life can use to make energy would still be vastly to broad, extending even to sulfides.

[@apburner1]

Egg white is made of proteins. When it is heated above a certain temperature it is "denatured". That means the strands of protein change their shape becoming tangled and intertwined, hence the change in appearance.

[@NiccoloSalomanos]

Speaking as a chemical engineer, we've always used: "Does the molecule contain C and H? If yes, it's organic." That's the one most organic chemists just sorta go with, too. Some add that it must also react with oxygen (ie; combust). Gasoline IS organic - it's a mixture of a few alkanes. Not sure where Hank got that from. Coal... Hard to say. It sorta straddles the border. Any organics can be interconverted with a little work. CO2 can't be easily made into other organics, no burn, -> inorganic.

[@kripticxs]

hank, could you do a show on esters? i need to learn it for my GCSE and my teacher is really bad at explaining it, you seem to be able to show how stuff works verry well! Thank you -Dom

[@reNINTENDO]

For those wondering: "A scientific theory summarizes a hypothesis or group of hypotheses that have been supported with repeated testing. If enough evidence accumulates to support a hypothesis, it moves to the next step-known as a theory-in the scientific method and becomes accepted as a valid explanation of a phenomenon." A theory in science is not speculation; it's explanation. A video on it would be helpful for many, indeed.

[@QEIFGHIQAGFL]

By the way thank you for your response, so hard to talk to people on youtube without getting into a fight, thank you :)

[@Zestric]

Organic Compounds are not always large and complex. There are things like e.g. Methane that are not all that large and really simple.

[@villeheinonen1644]

English language can be fun sometimes:D In finnish we have separate terms for "organics": "Orgaaninen" is loaned from english/other civilized language and it is used when talking about chemistry. meanwhile luomu is used when talking about groceries. (LUOnnon MUkainen tuote - organic food (lit. natural product). Languages can be Awesome:D

[@ViridisArborem]

Nice profile pic. Apple Jack, right? The Apple family is so brilliant how they all interact with one another. Big MacIntosh: Yup.

[@NikkoHawkes]

As a student who wants to go into the field of chemistry, I believe the distinction is nominal only. Everything in the world is based on the same exact chemistry, whether it's part of something alive or inanimate makes no difference at all. The distinction is important for casual reference, but not worth arguing about really.

[@kwellerfolds]

It also says in the description of the video. If you ever have a question about a youtube video, check out the description, they have been very good to me : D

[@FootysMaXeD]

Video on the benefits/cons of Organic food, please.

[@contingenceBoston]

Yo, Hank: You seem like an okay dude; you did a good job with maintaining a stance of neutrality in this video, focusing on the science and not the drama. That being said, I find that your opinions about human behavior being _good_ or _bad_ or _gross_ or _whatever_ can sometimes detract from the science. I mean, It's _Sci_ Show, man. Please, be goofy and nerdy and what have you, but you gotta remember that some people are stupidly stubborn (or perhaps stubbornly stupid) and they have their niches too. I don't even know why I bothered to leave such a long comment cause I know you're not gonna read it. I wish you would, bro. You would if I donated money, but I'm too poor for that shit. Anyhow, keep up the videos cause my brain is hungry for more layman's science. Cheers.

[@tebanll]

I hace a question, what is Dark Flow?

[@Altezh]

I was taught that organic compounds is defined as carbon-based molecules which appear in the flow of biology. Meaning that we ether use it as nutrition or waste it. This is obviously not a precise chemical description, but that is because organic compounds aren't of very stereotype chemical compositions. It doesn't make thins easier, that the word organic has two meanings. One is the chemical property the other is the agriculture concept. In most other languages you have distinct expressions.

[@spatuli]

This video made me confused about things i wasn't even worried about in the first place...

[@titaniumdiveknife]

UR FUNNY AND SMART! I LIKE UR WORK. :D

[@AlturiigosWritingBlockBlogspot]

The term organic is used to help categorize an idea or various ideas. It's use is not a science, but to help give reference or context to the conversation/explanation. Exploring what some of human ideas of living entities are is big idea that is being looked at in a lot of ways. The question might be something more like, "How far down can we look before we get past what organic can define?" This of course assumes organic is a term relating to life-based... things.

[@jameshuffman4403]

Around 2:42, You stated, "Tungsten carbide is a super strong carbide". It's not really strong, it's just really hard. Very brittle. Concrete: Really hard, breaks easy. Steel: Really strong, not as hard. Crucible Powdered Materials, Is the Answer for Tenacious Material. When hardened, even Tungsten carbide doesn't like it! James HUFFMAN, Mechanical Guru.

[@amruthagujjar]

Could you do a video about the first/second laws of thermodynamics?

[@JonathanRodd]

I was always under the assumption that organic basically means "naturally occurring" meaning if it can be found anywhere other than in a lab, it is organic. It is a very loose definition I know, and it means that there is really no such thing as non-organic groceries, but this is the definition I've always gone by :P

[@michaelransom820]

Organic is a bit of a misnomer from an earlier time period that saw life as being something separate from the the inanimate world around it, somehow being endowed with "life force". Yet life is just chemistry, plain and simple. Of course the chemistry for life tends to be highly complex, and as such there are many compounds that are formed by living things that are EXTREMELY unlikely to form in "non-living" systems. So even though the term "organic" may be a relic of the days of the "vital force" and the "ether" it is useful in helping us categorize things that have a high probability of being associated with a living system. This can be pretty handy when trying to diagnose a source of toxin in a river or when deciding where to look for life in space :)

[@megananderson7102]

Hey Hank, this might seem like kind of an idiotic question but i was wondering why when you cook things like egg whites and such, which seem like liquids, do they turn into a solid instead of something like egg-vapor?

[@Ultimatecozzie]

Hank, if you see this. Please do a show about organic foods so I won't be so confused.

[@MeNowDealWIthIt]

In junior high, I learned that organic meant it had a lot of carbon and hydrogen in it. I never learned where the line was that separated a lot from not a lot, but I think the best definition would be something like: If 2 times the amount of carbon atoms + the number of hydrogen atoms >= the total amount of all other atoms combined times 12 then the substance is organic. I just came up with that randomly, but that or something like it could work as a consistent definition.

[@viper_3]

Thank you Hank!

[@billswingle2672]

Excellent

[@AverageOgre]

called widia or WC, cemented tungsten carbide is pretty common in drills or cutting tools for hard materials like rock or metal. it´s brittle and slightly less hard than diamond, sooften takes the formof a coating or tooltip

[@ColtonWillnerd]

Will you guys talk about silicon and its organic proprieties

[@MathedPotato]

I believe the term you were looking for is "Cogito ergo sum", or in English "I think, therefore I am". This argument has been had before... many times. Descartes already did this.

[@maggie2222222]

The BAM! at the end scares me every time

[@zalxder]

link to T Shirt not found

[@theyoungspice]

I know right! However after close analysis, I was able to find one small area where he presents a few facts. It starts at 0:01 and lasts 'tilll about 4:24.

[@Candychocoblock]

Can you talk more about organic chemistry? We're starting this topic next week in my Chemistry class.

[@Izandaia]

Actually, gravity has two elements. There's the law of gravity, which describes how gravity works, based largely on Isaac Newton's formulas, and then there's the theory to gravity, which sets out to explain why and how gravity works, and is something which we still haven't quite pinned down.

[@spudd86]

I got to blow things up in high school chemistry, and silver a test tube into a Christmas ornament... one time I melted a test tube over a Bunsen burner