Source: Organic sign in grocery store, Organic Authority

Have you ever seen a sign similar to the one pictured to the right?

When you see the term organic in the grocery store or on food labels it typically means the food items were grown, processed, and packaged using no man-made fertilizers or pesticides.

In chemistry, organic means something different. Look at the definition of organic compound below.

Many people mistakenly define organic compounds as compounds containing carbon. But if you look carefully at the definition, you see that in organic compounds, carbon is bonded to hydrogen. There can be other atoms present in organic compounds, but there must be at least one carbon bonded to a hydrogen atom.

Organic compounds are compounds that usually come from organisms. They always have carbon and hydrogen, but may contain other elements like oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Methane is an organic compound. It is made up of a carbon bonded to four hydrogen atoms.

Inorganic compounds are compounds that do not contain a carbon hydrogen bond. Carbon dioxide is an inorganic compound. Carbon is made up of a carbon bonded to two oxygen atoms. There is not a carbon and hydrogen bond in carbon dioxide.

Source: Carbon dioxide ball and stick model