Final answer:
Inorganic chemistry deals with compounds that do not contain both carbon and hydrogen, often including a mix of metals and nonmetals. Exceptions like carbon dioxide are considered inorganic due to the absence of hydrogen. Organic chemistry, by contrast, focuses on carbon-based compounds, excluding carbonates and oxides which are inorganic.
Step-by-step explanation:
In chemistry, the term inorganic refers to compounds that do not contain both carbon and hydrogen. The key characteristic of inorganic compounds is their composition, which can include a variety of elements, often metals and nonmetals. An example of an inorganic compound is calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which is made of a metal (calcium) and nonmetals (carbon and oxygen). While many inorganic compounds do contain hydrogen, such as water (H₂O) and hydrochloric acid (HCl), they lack the carbon-hydrogen component that defines organic chemistry.
Furthermore, while organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds, inorganic chemistry encompasses the chemistry of all other elements in the periodic table. Some exceptions exist in categorizing compounds as inorganic, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and carbonates like sodium carbonate (Na₂CO3), which are considered inorganic despite containing carbon because they do not contain hydrogen.