Home > Community > Why are inorganic compounds not flammable?
Upvote

15

Downvote
+ Inorganic chemistry
+ Organic compounds
+ Chemistry
+ Organic chemistry
Posted by
Leolynn Cauthron

Why are inorganic compounds not flammable?

Bryan Michaels-Lex  Follow

Who told you this? Do you consider hydrogen gas as flammable? What about white phosphorus? Solid lithium metal is also flammable. ETC.

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Nicola Chambersholder  Follow

The designation of chemical compounds as organic or inorganic is totally man made with no real correspondence to the physical world.

There exist dangerous substances containing carbon as well as others not containing carbon.

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Charlie  Follow

Water - the universal solvent

Asbestos - used to be used for brake shoes and insulation, because it was so stable it kept strong mechanical properties at high temperature. It is so strong and inert, it keeps cutting through cysts our bodies form around it, and this causes / initiates cancer.

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Alan Feldman  Follow

Hydrocarbons compounds are highly flammable because they cóintain Hydrogen and carbon the carbon is an element which burns qith sooty flame carbon is highly combustible when heat and oxygen is supplied to it …so hydrocarbons are flammable ….examples of few flmàmable hydrocarbon is benzene etc

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Chuck Cobb  Follow

It would be extremely unlikely to occur evolutionarily since trace inorganic compounds would be present and would have certain advantages over organic compounds for specific purposes, but it is probably possible for humans, sometime well into the future to create very simple organisms which do not contain any inorganic compounds, although I cannot think of any reason why they might wish to do so.

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Angela Aldas  Follow

The reason is quite simple, the inorganic compounds in general have very high bond energies. They need to be heated to an extremely high level to be melt. With the present methods of melting point calculation(Kjheldahl’s method or by using the instrument), which use H2SO4 and electricity can’t efficiently reach more than a few hundreds of degrees of temperature(may be 400–500). Thus it is practically very hard if not impossible to calculate the melting points of inorganic molecules.

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Dave Obrien  Follow

An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound.

inorganic = not organic.

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote