Physical Agent Inventory: Chemical Compounds

Last modified: Thu 4/24/97 1945 PDT


Canon
Terms		 Object Classes ChemicalCompound; Molecule; MolecularCompound; IonicCompound; OrganicCompound; InorganicCompound; InorganicCarbonCompound
Instances (none)
Event Classes ChemicalReaction
Instances (none)

A chemical compound is a body of aggregate matter which consists of a population of interacting atoms and which is homogeneous with respect to the type and behavior of its atomic constituents. Some chemical compounds exhibit an intermediate level of organization, that of the molecule (i.e. the smallest unit of a molecular compound). Chemical compounds which are not molecular are called ionic compounds because they emerge from the interaction of populations of ions (electrically charged atoms). The study of chemical compounds and their behavior is the subject matter of chemistry, part of physical science.

Chemical compounds are classified conventionally as either organic compounds (compounds which contain carbon) or inorganic compounds (compounds which contain no carbon). A nomenclatural exception is made for the so-called inorganic carbon compounds, namely all carbonates, all carbides, all oxides of carbon and the compound carbonic acid). Chemical compounds which occur as (parts of) dependent biostructures in Living Systems are sometimes referred to as biomolecules.

The interaction of atoms to form chemical compounds must ultimately depend on the interactions of the subatomic particles which make up those atoms. The study of the subatomic interactions from which compounds emerge is the subject matter of quantum chemistry, part of chemistry.

There are numerous ways in which chemical compounds can interact with each other. Interactions which cause the destruction of one or more compounds and the creation of one or more new compounds are referred to as chemical reactions. The study of chemical reactions is the subject matter of stoicheometry, part of chemistry.

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Copyright 1997 by Mark P. Line (<waldzell@pair.com>)